Arts and Creative Industries / Fashion / Fashion_The Image opens at the Roger Ballen Centre for Photography and Inside Out Centre for the Arts

Fashion_The Image opens at the Roger Ballen Centre for Photography and Inside Out Centre for the Arts

Arts and Creative Industries
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19 March

The exhibition Fashion_The Image, dedicated to African fashion photography, opened on 26 February 2026 at the Roger Ballen Centre for Photography and the Inside Out Centre for the Arts in Johannesburg. Representatives from the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) attended the opening of the exhibition, which is now open to the public until 30 May 2026.

Curated by Sharon Armstrong in collaboration with Wanted editor Aspasia Karras and developed with the African Fashion Research Institute, Fashion_The Image traces how fashion imagery from the continent has been produced and circulated over the past five decades. Archival material, landmark editorials, campaign images and new commissions are presented side by side, positioning Johannesburg as an important reference point in the development of African visual languages.

The exhibition features work by photographers such as Nontsikelelo Veleko, Kristin-Lee Moolman, Andile Buka and Nadine Ijewere, with a dedicated focus on Lesotho-born, Paris-based photographer Koto Bolofo. Their work is shown alongside the designers they collaborated with, including Thebe Magugu, Rich Mnisi, Gert Johan Coetzee, Viviers, Naked Ape, Row G, Nao Serati and Uniform, among others.

The French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) is proud to support Fashion_The Image. For more information, visit the Inside Out Foundation website.

Picture credit: Jimm and Tonic 

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