KZNSA is pleased to present Honeymoon. The happily ever after?, a solo exhibition by Sabelo Mlangeni.

Developed over the past five years, Honeymoon. The happily ever after? is the artist’s
latest body of work, inspired by a honeymoon trip to eThekwini (Durban) following the release of his wedding
documentary series, Isivumelwano. This series interrogates the notion of ‘happily ever after’, and the
problematics or shortcomings of such a concept within the context of the contemporary South African
experience. Divided into multiple chapters, the series serves as a portrait of the tropical seaside city of
eThekwini, captured by Mlangeni in all its glamour and decay. Despite being the country’s third largest
metropolis and its largest port of trade, eThekwini has been marred by years of political instability and neglect,
environmental disaster and infrastructural collapse.

Mlangeni’s photographs present an intimate account of eThekwini’s multifaceted life: smiling portraits of
musclebound men and women and pleasure-seeking beachgoers are juxtaposed with images of the fallout
from two of the most violent events in recent South African history – the floods of 2022 and the riots of 2021 –
both of which cost hundreds of lives and brought the city to its knees. A fifth chapter in the series documents
the iconic architectural heritage of the South Beach area, languishing in a state of semi-disrepair.

Honeymoon. The happily ever after? testifies to the broken promise of South Africa in the post-

democratic era and the society that thrives in spite of it.

Sabelo Mlangeni (b.1980, Driefontein, South Africa) graduated in 2004 from the Market Photo Workshop in
Johannesburg, where he currently lives and works. He has had numerous solo exhibitions to date, including
most recently Imvuselelo: The revival at Cantor Arts Center in Stanford (2023) and Ngiyabona Phambli at the
Institute of Ideas & Imagination in Paris (2023). His work has been widely exhibited both locally and
internationally, including at The 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (2024), A4 Arts
Foundation in Cape Town (2023), Haus der Kunst / The Walther Collection in Munich (2023), Para Site in Hong
Kong (2022), Huis Marseille in Amsterdam (2022), K21 in Düsseldorf (2022), Palais de Tokyo in Paris (2021),
Frestas Triennial of São Paulo (2021), Lagos Biennale (2019), Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (2019), Huis
Marseille Museum of Photography (2019), Wits Art Museum (2018), Savvy Contemporary (2018), Kunsthal KAde
(2018), Museum Africa (2015), Liverpool Biennale (2013), Lubumbashi Biennale (2012), Lagos Photo Festival
(2011), V&A Museum (2011), Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum (2010), and Johannesburg Art Gallery (2010).
Mlangeni has been awarded several prizes including the Columbia University II&I fellowship and artist
residency (Paris, 2022), Africa MediaWorks Photography Prize (London, 2018), POPCAP’16 Prize for
Contemporary African Photography (2016), and the Tollman Award for Visual Arts (2009). He has also had
residencies at A4 Arts Foundation (Cape Town, 2018), Centre de Art Waza (Lubumbashi, 2017), Walther
Collection (Neu-Ulm, 2017), Akademie der Künste (Vienna, 2014), Akademie der Künste (Berlin, 2013) and
Centre for Contemporary Art (Lagos, 2010). His work is represented in several institutional collections,
including the Tate Modern, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Walther
Collection, Art Institute of Chicago, KADIST, and CNAP – French national collections.