As part of the Fashion_The Image programme, eight writers were selected to work with the Roger Ballen Centre for Photography, Wanted, and the African Fashion Research Institute to develop written responses that critically engage with the exhibition. As part of her research, writer Bella Makhubo interviewed Kevin Mackintosh, resulting in a thoughtful and insightful conversation with the industry expert. Her piece, Finding the Frame: Kevin Mackintosh on Craft, Identity, and the Future of...

The Idea: The Writer-in-Residence programme was a month-long opportunity for emerging creatives to engage with Fashion_The Image through research, writing, and direct access to the exhibition’s unique public programme. Designed for early-career practitioners working in fashion, photography, fine art and literature, the residency invited eight talented participants to immerse themselves in critical conversations surrounding African fashion photography. The Writers: Our co-hort included the...

An essay by the African Fashion Research Institute (AFRI) DR ERICA DE GREEF, JOHANNESBURG, FEBRUARY 2026 Fashion images matter. They act as evidence, as sites of material, socio-political and cultural knowledges. Paintings, and portraits in particular, precluded the words that fill fashion textbooks as the site of culture, aesthetics and the material representations of the day. Photographs now fill the textbook, their promise of truth eclipsing the speed of the fashion sketch and...