From Cape Town to Soweto, South Africa’s IG users are unspooling the Mzansi story on Instagram, reports Stefanie Jason.
At times it’s hard to tell where in the world you are when standing in a fast-food restaurant or shopping mall that looks identical in every city you go.
Sure, homogeneity isn’t a new phenomenon and many of us have grown accustomed to it. But if you look hard – sometimes it’s so blatant and obvious – you’ll find traces of a city’s individuality on street corners, plates of food or on the garments that its people wear. And those elements make cities or towns unique.
In the case of South Africa it’s in our dusty townships and ghost-like dorps; it’s the hairstyles we wear and the shopping bags or water buckets some women carry on their heads. Other times parts of South Africa are indistinguishable from neighbourhoods in America’s Midwest or its people could be mistaken for the brown faces seen on the streets of Brussels, and that’s okay.
Inspired by OkayAfrica’s list of Instagrammers “chronicling life throughout the black diaspora”, we list some of our favourite IGers documenting life in South Africa … telling the story of Mzansi on the photography-focused social network. From kids skateboarding in Cape Town to fashionistas in Jo’burg’s Soweto, here’s our list of top IGers in alphabetical order.
And here are some of her I Gers from Cape Town.
Bee Diamondhead
beediamondhead
Bee Diamond’s photographs of her Cape Town life are nothing but raw self-indulgence. Fur coats, fashion shots and phly selfies make this creative consultant and fashion stylist’s IG important.
Eugene Alberts
eugenealberts
From Cape Town’s rainy, graffiti-ridden streets to dusty Mpumalanga townships, this “Khoisan nature lover” offers glimpses into many parts of the country.
Grrreer
grrreer
Cape Town-based artist Greer Valley’s Instagram account reads like an art portfolio. It’s an online exhibition; and sometimes it’‘s strange but it’s always beautiful. Her image “all Alone in the University cinema, waiting for the film to start” epitomises this.
Full report by Stefanie Jason via Mail & Guardian
