Svea Josephy

Svea Josephy is currently a Senior Lecturer in Fine Art (photography) at the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town. She is best known for her work with "twin towns," where she draws parallels between settlements and suburbs surrounding South African cities to other places around the world. Josephy's work has been displayed in numerous exhibitions both nationally and internationally.

Born in 1969, Svea Josephy was raised in Cape Town, South Africa and currently resides in Rondebosh, a primarily residential southern suburb of Cape Town. Josephy first became interested in photography when she was a child. She had a darkroom in her home when her stepfather went through an amateur photography phase, which prompted her interest in photography. Her first camera was an old Olympus Trip 35. Today however, she mostly uses a Hasselbald camera.

Josephy completed her Bachelor of Arts (in Fine Art) at the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town, in the late 1980s to early 1990s. Josephy then in 2001, completed her Master of Fine Arts cum laude at the University of Stellenbosch.

Josephy's primary focus in her photographic work has been the study of how identity and landscape are constructed. Specifically, she is most well known for drawing parallels between "twin towns" in South Africa and in other parts of the world. Her project of "twin towns" examines the peculiar names of South Africa's settlements and suburbs. Examples include: Sun City, Lost City, Lapland, Beverley Hills, Egoli, Cuba, Kosovo, Lusaka, Malibu, Hyde Park, Green Park, Lavender Hill, Athlone, Harare, Waterfront, Potsdam, Bosnia, Beirut, Iraq and Hanover Park. These names evoke certain images that can be connected and related to various parks, streets, cities and countries located all over the globe.

Josephy mostly concentrates on the various settlements that surround cities in South Africa. She focuses on tracing the complex set of relationships, identifying both differences and parallels, with places or events after which South African settlements are named. Her images are for the most part presented in diptychs, which exhibit the ‘original’ and the ‘copy’ in contrast to one another.

Bernd and Hilla Becher, Andreas Gursky, Thomas Struth, Candida Hoffer and Wolfgang Tillmans, Stephen Shore, Robert Adams, Paul Graham, Martin Parr and Ed Burtynsky. Among South African photographers, Josephy is particularly interested in the work of David Goldblatt, Dave Southwood, Guy Tillim, Mikhael Subotsky, Santu Mofekeng, Pieter Hugo and Jo Ractliffe.

Josephy has received the following awards and scholarships: Prix du Ministre de la Culture DAKART 2010 9th biennial of Contemporary African Art, IFAM, Dakar, Senegal, the Gordon Institute for Performing and Creative Arts (GIPCA) Project Award (2009), National Arts Council Award (2008), the A.W. Mellon Emerging Scholars Award (2008), Malan Trust Curatorship Award (2007), Harry Crossley Scholarship (2000), Maggie Laubscher Scholarship (1999), Simon Gerson Prize (1993) and the Irma Stern Scholarship (1992).

• 2012. Home: Roots en Route curated by Jenny Altschuler (as part of the Cape Town Month of Photograph 2012). 20 September to 26 October, South African Jewish Museum, Cape Town.
• 2012. Home /Land. Exhibition to coincide with conference Home / Land: Women Photographies, Citizenship. 4–7 July, Loughbough School of the Arts, Loughborough, United Kingdom.
• 2012. A Natural Selection: 1991–2011. Curated by Clare Butcher. 21 November – 12 January, AVA Gallery, Cape Town.
• 2011. Lens. Curated by Colia Harmsen and Ulrich Wolf. 12 May – 23 July, Sasol Art Gallery, University of Stellenbosch.
• 2011. AVA Auction. Curated by Kirsty Cockrill. 24–31 March, AVA Gallery, Cape Town
• 2011. Crossing Boundaries: Contemporary Art and Artists from South Africa. Curated by Jochen Sokoly. 26 January – 5 March, VCU Gallery, Doha, Qatar.
• 2010. Third Worlds: Model Cities with contributions by Noeleen Murray, Carson Smuts, Tessa Dowling and Harry Garuba. 19 February to 19 March, Michaelis Gallery, UCT,
• 2010. Amani 2010 exhibition. Curated by Gerald Machona, Kathy Coates, Steve Bandoma and Andrew Lamprecht. 30 October 2010, Lookout Hill, Khayelitsha.
• 2010. DIVISIONS: Aspects of South African Art 1948–2010. Curated by Baylon Sandri. 5 June-31 August 2010, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town.
• 2010. Own Goal. Curated by Kirsty Cockrill. 31 May – 25 June, Association of the Visual Arts, Cape Town.
• 2010. DAKART 2010 9th Biennial of Contemporary African Art. Curated by Marilyn Martin, Sylvian Sanakale, Kunle Filani, Mareme Malong Samb, Rachida Triki. 7 May −7 June, IFAM, Dakar, Senegal.
• 2010. Better Cities, Better Lives. (curated with Noeleen Murray). 1 – 30 June, South African Pavilion, Shaghai Exposition.
• 2010. 1910–2010: From Pierneef to Gugulective, Curated by Riason Naaidoo. 15 April -September 2010. IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town.
• 2010. Resolution – the power of innuendo. 30 November – 7 January, AVA Gallery, Cape Town.
• 2009. Choices 08 Curated by Nadja Daehnke. 30 July – 26 November, IZIKO South African National Gallery.
• 2009. Abavelisi Bengingqi yaseLwandle. Curated by Jos Thorne, 16 December 2009 – present, (permanent display), Lwandle Migrant Labour Museum.
• 2009. Format International Photography Festival: Photocinema, Curated by Louise Clements. 6 March – 5 April, QUAD, Derby, United Kingdom.
• 2009. Chobi Mela VInternational Festival of Photography, Bangladesh, 2009. Curated by Shahidul Alam. 30 January – 20 February, Goethe Institut, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• 2008. Intimate Distance. Curated by Nadja Daehnke. November 2008 – March 2009, IZIKO South African National Gallery.
• 2008. The League of Ahistoric, Anachronistic Photographers Specializing in Archaic and Obsolete Processes. Curated by Adrienne van Eeden and Jean Brundrit. 15 September – 8 October, AVA Gallery, Cape Town.
• 2008. Between Meaning and Matter. Curated by Sanford Shaman. 25 June – 8 August, Bell-Roberts Contemporary, Cape Town.
• 2008. X Marks the Spot. Curated by Kirsty Cockerill. AVA, Cape Town. 2–20 June 2008.
• 2008. Cities in Crises. Curated by Michael Godby and Dave Southwood. April–May 2008, FADA Gallery, University of Johannesburg.
• 2008. Surface Tension. Curated by Heidi Erdman. December 2007 – January 2008, Photographers Gallery,Cape Town.
• 2008. The Jo’berg Art Fair. Bell-Roberts Contemporary stand, March 2008, Sandton Conference Centre.
• 2007. Twin Town November 2007 – January 2008. Bell-Roberts Contemporary, Cape Town.
• 2007. Ball Sports. Curated by Kirsty Cockerill. 12–23 November 2007. AVA Gallery, Cape Town.
• 2007. Greenhouse. Curated by Suzette Bell-Roberts. 20 October – 3 December, Bell-Roberts Gallery at Lourensford.
• 2007. Collection Six. Curated by Baylon Sandri. 15 September – 15 October, SMAC, Stellenbosch.
• 2007. Flesh. Curated by Christiaan Diedericks. April 2007, Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees Outshoorn (KKNK).
• 2007. Finding UCT: Narratives New and Old in the UCT Permanent Collection curated by Clare Butcher and Linda Stupart. September–October 2007, UCT Centre for African Studies, Cape Town.
• 2006. Second to None: Celebrating 50 years of Women’s Struggles. Curated by Gabi Ncobo and Virginia MacKenny. 24 June – 3 September, IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town.
• 2006. Artworks in Progress exhibition. November–December, Michaelis Gallery. Cape Town.
• 2006. 20 Artists exhibition. Curated by Norman O’ Flynn and Suzette Bell Roberts. 11 January – 11 February, Bell Roberts Gallery, Cape Town.
• 2006. Home. Curated by Nadja Daehnke, Nicholas Hales and Erna Carstens. September–October 2006, The Old Biscuit Factory, Cape Town.
• 2006. Of Want and Desire. Curated by Nadja Daehnke. 4–30 October 2006. Joao Ferreira Gallery.
• 2005. Sweet Nothings. Curated by Sanell Aggenbach. 9 February – 5 March, Bell Roberts Gallery.
• 2005. UnExposed. Curated by Stephen Inggs. March 2005, MichaelisGallery, Cape Town.
• 2005. Curiosity CLXXV. Curated by Pippa Skotnes, Gwen van Embden and Fritha Langerman. Nov 2004 – Mar 2005, Hiddingh Hall, University of Cape Town.
• 2004. Decade of Democracy. Curated by Emma Bedford. February–September, IZIKO, South African National Gallery, Cape Town.
• 2004. Forty Years: Artists and Designers from the University of Stellenbosch. Curated by Victor Honey. May–Aug, Sasol Art Museum, Stellenbosch.
• 2003. Roots. Curated by Pat Khosa. September–October, Durban Art Gallery.
• 2003. The Brett Kebble Art Awards. October, Cape Town Convention Centre, Cape Town.
• 2003. Picnic. Curated by Andrew Lamprect. November, Bell Roberts Gallery, Cape Town.
• 2002. Framing Documentary, (as part of the Cape Town Month of Photography) March, Association of the Visual Arts, Cape Town.
• 2002. The Position of South African Photography – Today. OMC Gallery for Contemporary Art, September–October, Düsseldorf, Germany.
• 2001. Framing Documentary. January, University of Stellenbosch Gallery.
• 2000. Emotions and Relations. Curated by Hentie van der Merwe. April, Sandton Gallery, Johannesburg and Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunsfees, Oudtshoorn.
• 2000. Emergency. Curated by Doreen Southwood, John Murray and Julia Rosa Clarke. February, Bell Roberts, Cape Town.
• 1999. Shuttle 99. September 1999 – May 2000, N.S.A., Durban; Bensusan Museum of Photography, Johannesburg; The Granaries, Cape Town, and The Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki.
• 1999. One City, Many Cultures. South African Museum, Cape Town. February–March 1999.
• 1999. Cache (as part of The Cape Town Month of Photography). March, The Castle, Cape Town.
• 1998. Photosynthesis. Curated by Kathleen Grundlingh, July–March 1998 – 1999, IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town and the Standard Bank Festival of the Arts, Grahamstown and Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg.
• 1988. Unplugged III, Market Theatre Gallery, Johannesburg.
• 1988. Fine Art Staff: Lecturing staff from the Department of Fine Arts, University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Association for Visual Arts.
• 1988. Bad Books. SAAA, Bellville, Cape Town.
• 1999. Women Artists of the Western Cape. Curated by Titia Ballot. Sasol Museum, Stellenbosch, Cape Town.
• 1997. SAAH Conference Exhibition (to coincide with the 13th annual conference for the South African Association of Art Historians). Dorp Street Gallery, Stellenbosch, Cape Town.
• 1995. Contemporary South African Art 1985 -1995. Curated by Emma Bedford. South African National Gallery, Cape Town.
• 1995. Weekly Mail and Guardian People’s Portraits. South African National Gallery. September 1995, Cape Town.

• "Svea Josephy: Michaelis School of Fine Art".