It was only by chance and great fortune that I found photography. With its discovery I found a vehicle to explore my country and the people I knew so little about.
Ever since its invention back in the 19th century, photography has been documenting life. At the same time, it focuses on inviting audiences to a rather subjective world, while trying to be taken seriously as an art form. Photography has always been considered a male-dominated profession, but luckily things are changing. Scholars, writers, bloggers, photography students, and enthusiasts have been giving due to the female pioneers of the field. Most of them were always standing and/or hiding in the shadows, oblivious to how much they could acclaim and accomplish. Arguably, the techniques, concepts, and thematic female photographers use differ from those of male photographers. At a time when most women were convinced that their place was in the kitchen and certainly not in the dark room, some were struggling to surpass their male counterparts and work towards gaining respect and recognition for their work.
Jodi Bieber (South African photographer, 1966-) was born in Johannesburg and attended three short courses at The Market Photography Workshop in her hometown. Her professional career began covering the 1994 Democratic Elections in South Africa for The Star Newspaper. Bieber's passion and concerns revolve around her mother country, and her practice is engaged with the political, societal, and economic circumstances of our times.
She explores themes such as gender and identity issues that often contradict the mainstream media narrative. Bieber has exhibited her work both locally and internationally in museums, galleries, festivals, and various institutions. She has won numerous international awards, including the Premier Award at World Press Photo in 2010. The photograph of Bibi Aisha, a woman from Afghanistan whose ears and nose were severed by her husband and brother-in-law, first appeared on the cover of TIME Magazine back in 2009.
Jodi has published five monographs, which have been exhibited in solo and group shows all around the world. Her work is also housed in collections like The Arthur Walther Collection, The Johannesburg Art Gallery, and elsewhere. Bieber is set on mentoring and guiding students through producing various projects; she gives lectures and she has also taught photographic workshops locally and abroad. The artist has a distinctive voice in the photographic realm and has been instrumental in shaping the next generation of photographers. The Royal Photographic Society named her as one of The Hundred Heroines in 2018.
If you make your drama around your preconceived ideas, then you are creating the barrier.
We will continue talking about female names that left their mark on photography and about contemporary female photographers who are still to emerge. There are a lot of female photographers out there deserving of praise and we can only hope to cover as many of them as we can. Please follow this space to find out more.
