Johannesburg, South Africa — South African visual artist and activist Athenkosi Kwinana is working to bring her travelling exhibition, Ndijongile: I Have Looked, to Durban, extending a body of work that challenges how people with albinism have historically been seen and represented in South African visual culture.
The exhibition brings together drawing and printmaking to explore visibility, identity, dignity and representation, while asking audiences to look beyond stereotypes and consider how people with albinism want to be seen on their own terms.
A R130,000 crowdfunding campaign has been launched to help cover venue hire, transportation of artworks, framing, installation, curatorial and facilitator fees, public programming, printing and other production costs for the Durban presentation.
An Exhibition Built Around Who Gets to Be Seen
Kwinana, who is herself a person with albinism, has built her artistic practice around questions of visibility and representation.
Her work examines how people with albinism are portrayed within South African society and visual culture, particularly within Black communities, and how those representations can either reinforce stigma or create space for greater understanding.
Her solo exhibition Ndijongile first opened at Berman Contemporary in Johannesburg in September 2024.
The exhibition, whose title translates from isiXhosa as “I Have Looked,” explored representations of people with albinism in South African visual culture between 2004 and 2024. It was accompanied by a group exhibition, timeline and panel discussion examining how those representations have changed over time.
The exhibition later formed part of broader conversations on albinism, inclusion and human rights, including a presentation at the University of the Free State’s Albinism Beyond 2030 conference.
From Johannesburg to Wider Audiences
The Durban presentation forms part of Kwinana’s plan to take Ndijongile beyond a single gallery space and into different parts of the country.
Her aim is to ensure conversations about albinism, disability and representation are not restricted to major art institutions or audiences already familiar with contemporary art.
By travelling, the exhibition can reach new communities, create opportunities for discussion and allow more South Africans to engage directly with work centred on the lived experiences of people with albinism.
For Kwinana, the project is not simply about displaying artworks.
It is about creating space for people with albinism to be represented with greater complexity, dignity and agency.
A Growing South African Art Career
Kwinana was born in Mthatha in 1995 and is now based in Johannesburg.
She holds qualifications in Fine Art from Walter Sisulu University and completed a Master of Fine Arts at the University of Johannesburg in 2022, where her research examined albinism in contemporary South African art.
Her work has since appeared at major art platforms in South Africa and abroad, including the Investec Cape Town Art Fair and the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London and New York.
In 2026, she was named among the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans, recognising young people making an impact across their respective fields.
That recognition comes after several years of using visual art as a form of activism around albinism, identity and how marginalised bodies are represented.
Taking the Conversation to Durban
The R130,000 fundraising target is intended to make the Durban leg of Ndijongile possible.
Funds will support the practical costs involved in moving and presenting the exhibition, including transporting artworks, venue hire, framing, installation and public programming.
The campaign is still in its earliest stages, but its purpose is clear: to take an existing body of work with a proven exhibition history and make it accessible to a new audience.
For Kwinana, the next chapter of Ndijongile is about extending the conversation.
Not simply asking audiences to look at art, but asking them to think more carefully about who is seen, how they are seen, and who gets to define that representation.
To support Ndijongile Travelling Exhibition, visit:
https://www.backabuddy.co.za/campaign/ndijongile-traveling-exhibition
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