As the old saying goes, a picture paints a thousand words and Gqeberha’s Vuyo Giba will soon tell her artistic tale in the UK.
She was selected as one of six of the world’s top female jazz photographers to exhibit their work with Women in Jazz Media.
The Motherwell NU13 resident intends to make her mark in London by using the exhibition — which opens on June 19 at the Karamel — to highlight the rhythms, heritage and lived experiences that defined SA’s jazz legacy on a global platform.
Women in Jazz Media is an international nonprofit organisation (NPO) that was created in November 2020 to help support and create an equal, diverse, safe and healthy jazz industry.
The NPO encourages collaborative thinking and mutual support within the jazz community, among other objectives.
It consists of a team of writers, photographers, painters, musicians, presenters, journalists, producers, editors that are based in China, Spain, Germany, Serbia, the US, Scotland, England, SA, France and Italy, among other places.
The women are participating in the exhibition under the theme, “Her Brain, Her Sound”.
“I was invited to join Women in Jazz Media, because they liked the work that I did, they have published my work three times and this will be the fourth engagement.
“This is my first opportunity of this magnitude, I have never exhibited my work outside SA, I am excited.
“Each woman will have 10 artworks, the mandate was to celebrate women in the music,” Giba said.
The 40-year-old’s exhibition includes a few artists from Gqeberha including NMU music graduate Zizipho “Zikamdali” Rala.
Giba said her love for jazz photography started in 2012 when she was doing theatre photography at the Market Theatre in Newtown, Johannesburg .
“Not far from the Market Theatre was Niki’s Oasis, it was established in 1995 and is one of the old jazz spots in Newtown.
“So one time after my Market Theatre gig, I just followed the sound and I ended up at Niki’s. At the time, I did not know the music, I did not know the people that were playing the music.
Giba said she had observed an exciting rebirth of the genre after relocating to Gqeberha in 2018.
“I think photography helped me to understand the music while the music helped me to understand photography.
“When I came back, I knew Gqeberha was the hub of your historical jazz musicians.
“In 2019/2020, there was not much activity or I did not know where to go at the time.
“When I went into filmmaking, I learnt of people like the late Rev Patrick Pasha.
“I had to learn about him, the history he had, Bra Wela Matomela, in Johannesburg, I was working with Bra Feya Faku, Lex Futshane.
“What I noticed since 2019, there has been a shift.
“It was as if people were reminded or something was awakened in them that said we still are jazz people, we have a rich traditional sound in the Eastern Cape,” Giba said.
She said while she had raised some of the R65,000 required for the trip, she was still short of R26,500.
The Herald
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