Snapshots: "Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder" By Nontsikelelo Veleko

Written By: Jamelia Mmari—Since photographer Nontsikelelo "Lolo" Veleko displayed her photographs at 2003's MTN New Contemporary Artists exhibition, she has grabbed the local South African and international public's attention with a tight urban grip. Lola shares, "I'm totally urban, and I love what happens in urban environments, therefore my work is not far-fetched. It's something simple, something that people know, but that they don't actually think is that important until they've seen it in a photograph. Somehow photography seems to make it more important, and have people think about it. My work is really just fun, and interspersed with many layers - it could be complicated, but I try not to let it go there!"

Lolo says about her Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder series of photographs, "I named my project Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder because other people, when they saw those people dressed up like that, would ask: 'How can you dress up in yellow pants and a lime green jersey with stripes?' And I thought the way I see beauty and the way I perceive beauty might be different to someone else next to me ... So the project is called Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder, because for me they are beautiful. I was excited [by them] I didn't care what anyone else was saying ... It was all about drawing attention around issues of beauty. And it was also about street fashion ... But I don't think that they're just performing themselves; I've lived it. I used to be one of those people..."

(Photo Credits: © Nontsikelelo Veleko)