Johannesburg has long been a testing ground for visual ideas, and from February 2026, a new photography exhibition titled Fashion_The Image places the city firmly at the centre of a broader conversation about fashion photography in Africa. Presented by the Inside Out Foundation across the Roger Ballen Centre for Photography and the Inside Out Centre for the Arts, the exhibition traces how fashion imagery has been produced, circulated and understood over the past five decades.
Curated by Sharon Armstrong in partnership with Wanted editor Aspasia Karras and developed in collaboration with the African Fashion Research Institute, the exhibition takes the form of a wide-ranging survey. Archival material sits alongside new work and previously unseen commissions, building a layered picture of how fashion photography on the continent has evolved and why it matters. Rather than positioning Africa on the margins of global fashion imagery, Fashion_The Image argues for Johannesburg as a place where visual language has been actively shaped, tested and exported.
At the centre of the exhibition is photography itself. Editorial spreads, campaign imagery, fashion films and experimental collaborations are presented not as fleeting moments, but as images that travelled widely and left behind a visual record of identity, aspiration and self-representation. Fashion imagery is treated here as a commercial medium with cultural weight, one that moves quickly but endures.
The exhibition brings together work by photographers and filmmakers whose images have defined key moments in African fashion, including Pieter Hugo, Kevin Mackintosh, Nadine Ijewere, Nontsikelelo Veleko, Kristin-Lee Moolman, Nico Krijno, Aart Verrips, Tatenda Chidora and Andile Buka, among others. Their work is shown alongside the designers they collaborated with, including Thebe Magugu, Rich Mnisi, Gert Johan Coetzee, Viviers, Naked Ape, Row G, Nao Serati, Uniform and many more, reinforcing the close relationship between image-maker and designer.
For the first time in South Africa, Fashion_The Image also presents a focused body of work by Koto Bolofo. Born in Lesotho, raised in South Africa and now based in Paris, Bolofo is one of the most significant fashion photographers to emerge from the continent. His photographs, which have shaped some of the most recognisable images in global fashion, are positioned within a broader photographic lineage that speaks to African authorship and long-term influence.
The exhibition also turns its attention to the industry behind the image. Stylists, editors, producers, set designers, hair and make-up artists, casting directors and technical crews are acknowledged as essential collaborators. Every image is presented with full credits, foregrounding fashion photography as a collective act rather than a singular vision.
Across the two venues, visitors will encounter still photography, installations and a dedicated video section for fashion films. At the Inside Out Centre for the Arts, the exhibition introduces Utopian Lands, a new intervention within the semi-permanent exhibition End of the Game. This marks the first major transformation of the space since its opening, starting a dialogue between fashion imagery, ecology, land and material culture, and extending the exhibition’s questions beyond the fashion industry itself.
A substantial public and education programme runs throughout the exhibition period, curated by the Inside Out Foundation in partnership with the African Fashion Research Institute. Designed as an accessible but rigorous platform, the programme positions photography as a low-barrier medium through which young people can develop visual literacy, imagine creative careers and engage critically with the images that shape everyday life.
“Fashion photography has played a crucial role in how Africa has imagined itself and how it has been seen by the world,” says Roger Ballen, founder of the Inside Out Foundation. “The works in this exhibition recognise fashion photography as a serious photographic language, one that belongs firmly within the history and future of photography on the continent.”
Alongside the exhibition, Ballen’s own fashion photographs, including work made for Vogue, Comme des Garçons, agnès b. and Rick Owens, are shown publicly for the first time, framed as part of a broader photographic conversation rather than its focal point.
“These photographs defined moments, launched careers and shaped how African fashion entered the world. They speak to the power of the image, and to the relationships and creative exchanges that made those images possible.”
— Sharon Armstrong
For Armstrong, the exhibition is as much about collaboration as it is about images. “These photographs defined moments, launched careers and shaped how African fashion entered the world,” she says. “They speak to the power of the image and to the relationships and creative exchanges that made those images possible.”
Conceived as an annual platform, Fashion_The Image marks a significant moment for the study and presentation of fashion photography in Africa, offering 100 days in which to look closely at how images are made, circulated and remembered.
Fashion_The Image will open to the public on February 28 and will run until May 30 at the Roger Ballen Centre for Photography and Inside Out Centre for the Arts in Johannesburg.
Find the full events calendar at insideoutfoundation.co.za. For programme updates, surprise openings and event announcements, follow @insideoutfoundation and @rogerballencentre on Instagram.
