Young people from the South African ‘townships’ occupy the galleries of La Recova

Today Casa África presents in La Recova in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and as part of Fotonoviembre, a selection of work from the South African photographer Nontsikelelo Veleko. This exhibition is a Casa África project, which is part of its Promotion of Emerging African Artists Programme, with the collaboration of the Goodman Cape Gallery and is presented in partnership with Isla Forum, Tenerife in the world, a strategy from the Cabildo of Tenerife, which encourages the knowledge of other cultures on the island. With this exhibition, Casa África wants to show the work of one of the freshest and most daring African creators in today's contemporary scene.

Veleko's view means an introspection into the city, not only inside but also outside its limits through the people that live in it and brings us closer to the experience of what it means to them to live in their city. These peculiar urbanites, which especially come from the South African townships, show through their gestures and clothes, their own search for identity in a landscape of constant evolution. Witness to the changes on the social horizon of these territories, the photographer Nontsikelelo Veleko expresses above all a political commitment against discrimination and the lack of representation of certain black communities, particularly, the inhabitants of the townships and young people.

It also includes specific work from the Canary Islands with the aim of articulating it into the local context and in this way link her work with our everyday life and the islands' scenes. Thus, the photographs in the series Welcome to paradise (2009) are the result of a stay in the Canary Islands where Veleko took photographs of Africans born in the Canary Islands, Africans resident in the Canary Islands and Africans who have recently come to stay on the islands.