"Attached to the Soil" is part of the showcase of different exhibitions at the Cape Town Photography Festival happening until end of September
How I stumbled upon an inaugural showcase (Cape Town Photography Festival ) exploring photography, culture, and connection across the Mother City
By Simon Manda
I came to Cape Town on 1 September for the Fame Week Africa event, a premier showcase for film, television, animation, fashion, and music across the continent, focused entirely on the creative industry gatherings that had brought me to the Mother City. What I didn’t expect was to stumble upon one of the most enriching cultural experiences of my year. As I navigated between Fame Week’s film screenings, fashion shows, music showcases, and animation exhibitions, I began noticing photography exhibitions blooming in unexpected corners—from Simon’s Town to Bellville, Observatory to Kalk Bay. The Cape Town Photography Festival 2025 was starting 2 days later, and I found myself irresistibly drawn into this parallel universe of visual storytelling.
A Happy Accident of Timing
Sometimes the best discoveries happen when you’re not looking for them. Whilst my official schedule revolved around Fame Week Africa’s film premieres, television pitches, animation workshops, fashion showcases, and music industry networking, I kept encountering whispers about photography exhibitions scattered across the city. Initially, I dismissed these as minor gallery openings, but curiosity eventually got the better of me and I got in touch with the organiser of the Cape Town Photography Festival.
Remarkably, this ambitious Cape Town Photography Festival had been curated in less than three months—a testament to the dedication and vision of Festival Director Heidi Erdmann and her extraordinary team. What struck me most profoundly was how they had managed to weave together international acclaim with local voices, creating a tapestry that celebrated both South African heritage and global photographic innovation, all while I was attending film events just a few streets away.
The Cape Town Photography Festival’s backbone was 6 Spin Street Gallery, serving as the central hub, but the real magic lay in how it spread like creative wildfire across Cape Town’s diverse neighbourhoods. From the historic charm of Simon’s Town Museum to the vibrant artistic pulse of Observatory, each venue brought its own character to the celebration—creating a city-wide gallery.
An Innovative Musical Journey Through Time
One of the Cape Town Photography Festival’s most ingenious features was the integration of QR codes linking images to music from the era of each photograph. This wasn’t merely a technical novelty—it was a portal to emotional time travel. Through headphones, I found myself transported across decades of South African musical heritage.
Standing before powerful portraits, I scanned codes that filled my ears with the soul-stirring voice of Brenda Fassie, her rebellious spirit perfectly complementing images of township life and urban struggle. Sipho Gumede, a maestro jazz bassist and composer who blended traditional African sounds with jazz, disco, and boogie. Busi Mhlongo’s haunting traditional melodies provided a profound soundtrack to historical photographs, whilst Abdullah Ibrahim’s piano compositions created an intimate atmosphere around jazz-era portraits that seemed to breathe with musical memory.
Perhaps most moving was listening to Johnny Clegg of Savuka’s cross-cultural anthems whilst viewing contemporary South African works—the music’s message of unity and cultural bridge-building resonating deeply with the Cape Town Photography Festival’s own inclusive spirit. This auditory dimension transformed static images into living, breathing narratives, creating what I can only describe as a synesthetic experience where sight and sound merged into something greater than the sum of their parts.
The contrast was fascinating: by day I’d be immersed in the red tour bus’s Blue route to Hout Bay via Constantia’s winelands—by evening I’d find myself in intimate gallery spaces experiencing this profound marriage of sound and image.
Opening Night Magic in Observatory
My Cape Town Photography Festival journey began on Friday, 5th September. I had finished a long day sightseeing across Cape Town and got wind of an opening event at Bijou Project Space in Observatory. The main gallery floor, where Sean was speaking, was already full of attendees when I got there. It was the opening of Sean Wilson’s “Immortal Impressions”.
The evening was electric with anticipation as photography enthusiasts, artists, and curious locals gathered to witness Wilson’s extraordinary work. I found myself swept into conversations about art and technique, a refreshing change from the day’s focus on excursions.
Wilson’s exhibition was nothing short of revelatory. His technique of creating photographs directly onto iPad screens and damaged mobile phone screens using the 19th-century wet plate collodion process felt like witnessing alchemy. Through an imaginative reworking of Victorian spiritualist trick photography, Wilson explored our contemporary relationship with digital screens—questioning how we connect with technology and what remains ‘immortal’ in our increasingly ephemeral digital age.
What captivated me was Wilson’s dedication to darkroom processes in an age of digital immediacy. His work spans years of exploration, and witnessing the results felt like seeing the past and future of photography converge in the most unexpected ways. The ghostly images on broken screens spoke to our fractured relationship with technology whilst celebrating the enduring power of traditional photographic craftsmanship.
Behind the Scenes: Witnessing the Magic Upstairs
Later that evening, something truly special happened. Heidi Erdmann, along with a small group of photographers and myself, were invited upstairs to witness Sean Wilson in action in his actual darkroom. This wasn’t just a gallery tour—it was a chance to see the alchemical process that creates his extraordinary work.
Climbing the narrow stairs to the space above the gallery, we entered Wilson’s domain: a carefully controlled environment where 19th-century chemistry meets contemporary artistic vision. The air was thick with the distinctive smell of collodion chemicals, and the only light came from safe lamps casting an amber glow across the workspace.
Watching Sean prepare his plates, coat them with the wet collodion mixture, and then expose them directly onto damaged iPad and phone screens was mesmerising. There’s something almost ritualistic about the wet plate process—every movement deliberate, every timing crucial. Sean moved with the confidence of someone who has spent years mastering this demanding technique, explaining each step whilst never breaking his concentration.
What struck me most was the intersection of old and new: here was an artist using a photographic process from the 1850s to comment on our relationship with 21st-century technology. The broken screens—some cracked, others with dead pixels—became canvases for ghostly portraits that seemed to emerge from another realm entirely.
Heidi and the other photographers asked technical questions about chemistry and timing, whilst I found myself fascinated by the conceptual framework. Sean explained how he sees the broken screens as metaphors for our fractured digital relationships—how we connect through these devices whilst simultaneously being isolated by them.
The entire experience felt like a privilege, a behind-the-scenes glimpse into artistic creation that you can’t get from viewing finished work in a gallery.
Unexpected Connections Over Pizza
After the exhibition, the evening took an unexpectedly delightful turn. We strolled down the street to Ferdinandos, a cosy pizza joint that became the stage for one of those magical encounters that make travel truly special. Over enormous, delicious pizzas and against a backdrop of vibrant Mexican music, I found myself in conversation with an extraordinary group of international and local photographers.
Heidi Erdmann, the Cape Town Photography Festival director, proved to be as warm and engaging in person as her programming suggested, sharing stories of the festival’s rapid development alongside her husband Carsten. The atmosphere was convivial yet intellectually stimulating as we discussed the challenges and rewards of creating art across cultural boundaries—a conversation that felt worlds away from the industry-focused discussions that had dominated my Fame Week experience across film, television, animation, fashion, and music sectors.
Suok-Won Yoon from South Korea spoke passionately about his curatorial work on “Future Heritage”, an exhibition featuring Mohau Modisakeng (South Africa), Jun Ahn and Goo Gijeong (both South Korea), and Boris Eldagsen (Germany). Their collaboration exemplified the Cape Town Photography Festival’s international scope whilst maintaining deep local resonance.
Professor Glendinning of Michigan State University regaled us with anecdotes from his decades of photographic experience, whilst Meha Desai and Karen Pang from Mauritius shared insights into their collaborative exhibition “This was my home: Mauritian Heritage”. Desai’s observation that “Heritage in Mauritius is not a straight line. Lineages are fractured by exile, indenture, migration and silence” resonated deeply, highlighting how photography can excavate and preserve complex cultural narratives.
The evening felt emblematic of the Cape Town Photography Festival’s power to create unexpected connections, breaking down barriers between established artists and emerging voices, as well as between international visitors and local creatives.
Learning from a Master: Professor Glendinning’s Saturday Talk
Saturday brought another serendipitous discovery. I attended Professor Peter Glendinning’s “Photography Basics & Beyond” presentation at the 6 Spin Street Gallery. The talk was remarkably well-attended, drawing everyone from complete beginners to advanced amateurs—a testament to Glendinning’s reputation as both educator and artist.
What made his presentation truly special was the perfect balance between technical instruction and personal storytelling. Glendinning, who has enrolled over 500,000 learners through his five-course Coursera series launched in 2016, peppered his insights with doses of anecdotes and perfectly timed punchlines that kept the audience engaged throughout.
But it was his discussion of “Attached to the Soil” that proved most moving. In 2019, Glendinning spent over seven months collaborating with 48 young South Africans to create a powerful collection of portraits inspired by Nelson Mandela‘s 1995 inaugural speech. Each picture was paired with soil-related metaphors, bringing to life Mandela’s words: “I have no hesitation in saying that each one of us is as intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the Mimosa trees of the bushveld.”
Hearing Glendinning explain how he worked with young South Africans to explore their own attachment to the soil—their sense of belonging, identity, and hope—was profoundly moving. The project is showcased at Simon’s Town Museum and represents more than photography; it is a meditation on what it means to belong to a place and how visual storytelling can help us understand complex relationships with home and identity.
His “Rules of the Photography Game”—Time, The Frame, Vantage Point, Presence of Reality, and The Detail—provided a framework that felt both accessible and profound, applicable whether you were shooting with a smartphone or professional equipment.
The Cape Town Photography Festival’s Broader Landscape
Beyond my personal encounters, the Cape Town Photography Festival’s full programme was breathtaking in its scope and ambition. Roger Ballen’s “Johannesburg” catalogue launch promised insights from one of photography’s most distinctive voices. The “AI and Contemporary Photography” conversation between Suok-Won Yoon and Boris Eldagsen addressed perhaps the most pressing question facing contemporary image-makers.
Master Printing Workshops with Neil Williamson at Print Art Studio offered hands-on learning opportunities, whilst panel discussions on music photography archives and journalism provided crucial context for understanding photography’s role in documenting and shaping culture.
The exploration of marabi music, Matsuli Records, and jazz’s role in South African culture represented the Cape Town Photography Festival’s commitment to understanding photography within broader cultural contexts—recognising that images never exist in isolation. Still, they are always part of larger conversations about identity, history, and belonging.
A Lesson in Creative Serendipity
What struck me most about discovering the Cape Town Photography Festival was how it reminded me of the importance of remaining open to unexpected experiences whilst travelling. I had come to Cape Town with a specific professional agenda, focused entirely on networking and trend observation in the film, television, animation, fashion, and music industries that Fame Week offered.
Yet stumbling into this parallel world of photography exhibitions, artist talks, and intimate conversations about visual culture became the most memorable and transformative aspect of my entire trip. It demonstrated how cultural festivals can enhance business travel, providing a deeper context and a richer understanding of the cities we visit.
Why Festivals Like This Matter
After experiencing time in Cape Town, where I split my time between touring the city, experiencing Fame Week Africa’s industry-focused showcase of film, television, animation, fashion, and music, and the Cape Town Photography Festival’s artistic exploration, I’m convinced that events like the Cape Town Photography Festival are more crucial than ever. In an era of digital oversaturation, where millions of images flood social media daily, there’s something profound about creating physical spaces where people can slow down, reflect, and engage deeply with photography as both art and a form of communication.
The Cape Town Photography Festival fostered real human connections that transcended professional networking. While Fame Week provided valuable industry contacts across Africa’s creative sectors, the photography festival offered something different—the opportunity to meet artists, discuss their work face-to-face, and share meals whilst debating creative processes felt almost radical. These encounters—whether planned presentations, behind-the-scenes darkroom visits, or spontaneous pizza conversations—reminded me why art matters most when it brings people together.
More importantly, the Cape Town Photography Festival demonstrated how photography can address questions that commercial image-making often avoids—issues of identity, belonging, cultural memory, and social justice. This provided a powerful counterpoint to the polished, market-driven imagery that dominated the film, television, animation, fashion, and music industry events I was attending at Fame Week.
The Power of Local Stories with Global Resonance
What distinguished this Cape Town Photography Festival was its commitment to local stories that spoke to universal themes. Glendinning’s “Attached to the Soil” project, Wilson’s meditations on technology and memory, the exploration of Mauritian heritage through fragmented lineages—all these works addressed specifically South African or regional experiences whilst illuminating broader questions about belonging, identity, and cultural memory.
The Cape Town Photography Festival demonstrated that photography’s power lies not just in individual images, but in the conversations they generate, the connections they forge, and the understanding they foster between diverse communities and perspectives. This felt particularly relevant as I moved between the international creative industry atmosphere of Fame Week—with its focus on film, television, animation, fashion, and music as commercial exports—and the more locally grounded but globally connected photography community.
Reflecting on an Unexpected Journey
In less than three months, Heidi Erdmann and her team had created not just an event but a community. This temporary but profound gathering celebrated photography’s capacity to illuminate, question, and connect.
The Cape Town Photography Festival’s success suggests a hunger for authentic cultural experiences that go beyond both commercial networking and mere entertainment, offering genuine learning and connection opportunities. In showcasing both established masters and emerging voices, as well as international perspectives alongside local narratives, the Cape Town Photography Festival 2025 set a new standard for what cultural festivals can achieve.
The Cape Town Photography Festival 2025 reminded me why staying curious whilst travelling matters, and why the best creative discoveries often happen when we’re open to experiences beyond our planned agendas. Sometimes the most transformative encounters are the ones we never intended to have.
