Chris Saunders is an award winning Johannesburg photographer and filmmaker who documents the richness of South African fashion, ranging from subcultures like the Izikhotane to individual street style. A key theme within his work is how fashion connects South Africa to global culture. He has practically applied this in his collaborations with UK producer Okzharp, whose music is released on the cult Hyperdub label. Along with music videos, they also worked together on the 2015 film Ghost Diamond. Starring dancer Manthe Ribane, the film is a visually opulent exploration of Johannesburg which draws on uncanny convergences between Zulu and Japanese mythology.
His latest photographic series extends this theme of cultural convergence. Working with clothes made by the New York based EDUN label, Saunders explores how the garments themselves are reminiscent of local styles. He found striking similarities with both the Swenakas, a classic Zulu fashion culture in which men peacock in designer suits and the Pantsula dance style, which he has long been documenting. Both subcultures are characterised by a competitive edge with adherents trying to outdo each other in both clothes and movement. In this latest shoot he worked again with Manthe Ribane, along with her sister Tebogo, deploying Swenka and Pantsula poses on the streets of Johannesburg. As he describes it ‘We re-interpreted classic masculine poses from the different sub-cultures and posed the shots in the harsh South African summer light, not shying away from its encompassing effect. I wanted to keep it as real as possible, maintaining a sense of believability which is often lost in fashion photography, but maintaining the fantasy of the over the top garments. The results are a less than typical aesthetic, poses which reference by-gone showmanship in masculinity shot in reality’.
Through blending the past and the cutting edge, the work shows the hidden structures of fashion: ‘The images take clothing which is designed in New York, manufactured ethically on the African continent, transported back to the USA and now imagined back in Africa and specifically in Johannesburg’.
