Writer: Tonderai Chiyindiko | Photographs: Ntandoyenkosi Maseko
Ntandoyenkosi Maseko’s solo exhibition, Stories From Kwa Gogo Ntuli, which recently opened at the Market Photo Workshop as the culmination of her becoming the 17th recipient of the Tierney Fellowship, was an event all about celebrating and honouring her great-grandmother and grandmother.
For starters, the exhibition’s title, Stories From Kwa Gogo Ntuli, preludes the much-deserved tribute to the matriarch, Gogo Thobile Ntuli, well before one sees any of the photographs.
An unexpected yet wonderful surprise was that Gogo Thobile Ntuli—despite her advanced age—showed up and witnessed her granddaughter’s exhibition about her life herself. In an impromptu yet truly heartwarming moment, the audience, which included the Maseko family and friends, all stood up to honour Gogo Ntuli with a vociferous yet deeply meaningful applause.
Though Stories From Kwa Gogo Ntuli is a deeply personal exhibition depicting Ntandoyenkosi Maseko’s life with her siblings under her grandmother’s sturdy four-roomed home in Soweto, it never feels invasive from the photographer nor performative from the subjects.
For Maseko, whose photographic influences include Ruth Seopedi Motau and Jabulani Dlamini, this daring and brave exhibition places her front and centre of her craft, which, as a young photographer, can be both exciting and intimidating. It seems, though, that she is taking it all in her stride.
Maseko was mentored by photographer, artist, and former gallerist Musa Nxumalo, who himself is an Edward Ruiz Mentorship recipient.
A lecture to contextualise the exhibition was presented by academic, researcher, and lecturer Dr Kholeka Shange.
Stories From Kwa Gogo Ntuli will be on exhibition until 29 November 2025 at the Market Photo Workshop in Newtown, Johannesburg.
ABOUT NTANDOYENKOSI MASEKO
B. 2003, Soweto, South Africa
Ntandoyenkosi Maseko is a graduate of the Market Photo Workshop and the 17th recipient of the Tierney Fellowship from the same institution. Maseko is inspired by photographers such as Jabulani Dlamini and Ruth Seopedi Motau, who astutely document the lives of Southern Africans and their spaces — a photographic approach that Ntandoyenkosi resonates with and that deeply informs her upcoming debut solo exhibition, Stories From Kwa Gogo Ntuli / The Family Album.
The project aims to photographically preserve the stories that inform the anatomy of her family and home, in honour of her grandmother, Gogo Thobile Ntuli.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS INCLUDE
2025: Moved: Borders, Bodies and Belonging — Group Exhibition at the University of Pretoria
2025: Bearing Witness — Group Exhibition at the Market Photo Workshop
*Tonderai Chiyindiko is a voracious reader and restless creative who is addicted to the intoxicating smell of new books and loves attending book launches (because of the free-flowing wine, cheese, and snacks). He lives and works in Johannesburg.
