ZWELETHU MTHETHWA (b. 1960, Durban, Kwazulu Natal, So. Africa) lives and works in Cape Town.
Zwelethu Mthethwa’s work addresses the economic and political reality of South Africa. His photographs portray rural immigrants on the margins of the big cities of South Africa, particularly those who have moved to Cape Town in search of work and now live in informal squatter camps. Mthethwa’s photographs show the efforts of his subjects to salvage their cultural identities through their choices in clothing and the decoration of their dwellings.
Mthethwa has participated in numerous exhibitions, including the traveling exhibition Africa Remix (2005-06); the Venice Biennale; the Gwangju Biennial; and Snap Judgments: New Positions in Contemporary African Photography at the International Center for Photography, New York (2006).
Mthethwa is represented by Jack Shainman Gallery in New York.