Photographers We Love: Mack Magagane

WORDS Lindi Brownell Meiring PORTRAIT Lebogang Thlako PHOTOS Courtesy of the artist and Room Gallery & Projects; Older Works acquired by Zeitz MOCAA Collection

“You are only as good as your last photograph” is an axiom that 27-year old Joburg-based photographer Mack Magagane firmly believes.

His work now lines the gallery walls at Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town, but being a photographer was never the plan for Mack Magagane. When his dream of studying architecture at university didn’t pan out due to financial constraints, Mack’s sister presented him with an alternative.

“I was introduced to photography after matriculating in 2008, through my sister,” he says. “She knew about The Market Photo Workshop, a photography school based in Newtown, Johannesburg, close to where I live now. I thought I would study there for a time until I was able to raise sufficient funds to go to university. I later found that I loved photography and just continued.”

Mack is fascinated with the infrastructural, economical, social and political changes seen in Johannesburg, and his work is largely inspired by the city’s burgeoning urban environment and the way in which the above variables depend on one another. “I try to find the in-between,” he says.

He aims to present pieces that are both visually appealing and politically, economically and socially significant. Before winning the Centre Photographique d’Ile-de-France residency in Paris in 2013, Mack got the opportunity to exhibit his work on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower, something he considers a highlight. Since then he has exhibited at numerous galleries in South Africa and abroad.

He plans to continue studying and focus on his practice in 2018. We can’t wait to see what he does next.

For more information, visit roomgallery.co.za.