Cape Town’s Photography Festival Brings Heritage into Focus

The inaugural Cape Town Photography Festival offers a fresh perspective on heritage, showcasing local and international visual narratives that explore identity, memory, and belonging.

COMPILED BY Gina Dionisio PHOTOS Courtesy of the Cape Town Photography Festival

Inspired by South Africa’s Heritage Month, the first-ever Cape Town Photography Festival, taking place from 3 to 27 September, explores the multifaceted theme of ‘heritage’ through the lens of photography.

“Heritage is a powerful thread connecting past, present, and future. It fosters belonging, grounds us in time and place, and shapes our identity. Photography, as visual memory, is the perfect medium to capture and share these stories,” says Festival Director Heidi Erdmann.

The festival will capture the full spectrum of the photographic ecosystem, spotlighting not only image-makers but also the thinkers, facilitators, and institutions shaping the field via a dynamic programme of exhibitions, talks, and workshops, designed to engage diverse audiences and foster meaningful connections.

Highlights include:

• Naoya Yoshikawa and Suok-Won Yoon, the festival’s co-curators, will each present solo exhibitions of their own work.
• Yoon curated the Future Heritage exhibition, inviting Boris Eldagsen (Berlin), a global leader in the use of AI in photography, to participate. The exhibition also features work by Mohau Modisakeng (South Africa), Ahn Jun (South Korea), and Goo Gijeong (South Korea), with a not-to-be-missed discussion forming part of the festival programme.
• Yoshikawa curated a student photography exhibition from Japan, which will be presented in dialogue with work by students from the University of Stellenbosch as well as the Cape Town University of Technology.
• Karen Pang and Meha Desai of Mauritius will curate an exhibition that powerfully reflects the island’s complex heritage.
• Critical conversations on Cape Town’s past and memory will be sparked by District Six: People Lived Here by Jansje Wissema at the Cape Institute for Architecture in Hout Street. A few prints from the Van Kalker Photo Studio Collection (1939 – 1978) will be included in this exhibition.
• The historically important exhibition on loan from the remarkable Kilbourn Collection will be on view at the Sanlam Art Gallery. This two-part exhibition brings together two distinct photographic series. One is a historical meditation on Johannesburg, the other a contemporary study of Cape Town. Exhibited across both floors of the Sanlam Art Gallery, the show offers a rare visual dialogue between generations, geographies, and modes of making.
• Music writer Carsten Rasch curated an exciting music photography exhibition with a vibrant programme of events.
• A conversation with Banthatile Rwasoka led to a collaboration with Senzeni, while a separate exchange about Margaret Courtney-Clarke from Namibia quickly evolved into a confirmed project.
• The children’s exhibition, Through Kids’ Eyes, brings together both rural and urban perspectives.

“We live in a world saturated with images, where everyone is a photographer. In a festival context, photography reclaims its power as a storytelling medium. Our programme shows just how elastic the medium is – from hard-hitting documentary and narrative-rich constructed images to work shaped by AI. It’s a visual language that continues to adapt to the way we live now,” says Erdmann.

“This festival is about widening the lens. Photography can be poetic, political, and personal; sometimes all at once. From hard-hitting documentary to playful AI experiments, we want to create a space where multiple voices and visions can meet and be seen,” she adds. | capetownphotofest.co.za

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