SOWETO

Celebration and portrait of life in Soweto today.

In Soweto, to be published by Jacana Media in May 2010, acclaimed home-grown photographer Jodi Bieber has created an open-ended essay which is a celebration and a portrait of life in Soweto today. The importance of Soweto in the collective consciousness is hard to overstate. It registers as a place born of resistance, perhaps even embodying the South African struggle for freedom.

But the birth of Kwaito is attributed to Soweto, too. And beyond the grand narratives, there is and always was a proliferation of dancing, art and fashion in this place defined by its energy and cosmopolitan nature. Labelling and un-labelling, claiming and discarding, Sowetans have created Soweto anew – a phenomenon that is celebrated in this photographic publication which contemplates daily lived realities, where here, as elsewhere, South Africans are continually reinventing themselves and their urban space.

Jodi Bieber is the winner of the Prix de le l'Union Européenne at the Rencontres de Bamako, Biennale africaine de la photographie, November 2009. She has won eight World Press awards, a 1st Place in Picture of the Year International 2009 and numerous other accolades. Her first book, Between Dogs and Wolves: Growing up in South Africa, was released in five countries in 2006. She has worked on assignments for, among others, the New York Times (USA), Geo (Germany) and The Sunday Times Magazine (UK). She also works for non-profit organisations like Médecins Sans Frontières on special projects for booklets and exhibitions. Her work continues to be exhibited internationally. She is represented by the Goodman Gallery in South Africa and the Institute for Artist Management, based in Los Angeles, New York and London.

With an introduction by Niq Mhlongo, Soweto is published by Jacana Media in paperback. Recommended Retail Price R275 - EAN/ISBN-13: 978-1-77009-806-0