From the publisher:
“The first of Bad Paper’s ‘AT LARGE’ series, Musa Nxumalo’s ‘Sihle Khambule - Alternative Kidz’ presents a vivid portrait of youth who choose to identify with alternative culture. In examining specifically urban, Black youth, Nxumalo re-presents and repositions not only mainstream South African youth culture, but also the ability of alternative counter-culture to react against social stereotyping. In this context, alternative culture is both culturally dissonant and individually liberating. It demonstrates how counter-culture can function as a mode of complex self-fashioning. As part of ‘AT LARGE’, Nxumalo’s print has been blown up and tiled, forming a wall-sized image to be assembled at home.”
Nxumalo’s work is centred around the youth culture of Soweto and its nightlife. As stated by Bad Paper, “Nxumalo uses his lens to straddle the line between art images and documentary photography.”
363 x 272 cm ( when assembled) | Digital Print on 81 x 80gsm Uncoated Bond Sheets
Born and raised in Soweto, where he still lives and works, Musa Nxumalo (b.1986) held his first solo exhibition in 2009 titled ‘Alternative-Kidz [Travelling Exhibition]’ at Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg.