My primary field is photography, both digital and analogue. My primary interest is to subvert the norms and values around women that are constructed and reinforced by Western main stream pop culture as defined through main stream media such as tabloid magazines, music videos, film and advertisements. Main stream popular culture being defined as “the ideas, attitudes, or activities that are regarded as normal or conventional; the dominant trend in opinion, fashion, or the arts.” (Oxford Dictionary, 2014). I approach my work with the aim of experimentation, how photographic techniques can be used to create an image that inspires a raw connection with the viewer, invoking an emotional response. The intention of my work is to explore how the printed photographic image can come close to truth by replicating an intimate moment. The moment that would occur between two people now manifests itself between viewer and artefact (The printed photographic image). My objective is to capture a moment/glance that is essential to being human and essential to the character of the subject. The intention is to feature the subject as looking past the notion of posing a construction of self for the camera, but rather to capture an ethereal moment that confronts and challenges the viewer.

My work aims to explore female identity by questioning the female form through various photographic techniques such as pinhole, cyanotypes, medium format, 35mm and digital photography. The objective is to counter the usual neutrality with which audiences view photographs to elicit an emotional response. My intention is to confront and challenge stereotypes and gender binaries in the subjects I would work, both in subtle and overt ways and to investigate perceptions of femininity and the female form. My works range from traditional portraiture through to explorative nudes. Recently, I have become increasingly interested in the concept of “woman’s expectations of woman”, following from personal critique of my own form. During my stay at Luminous Bodies, my aim is to use photography to physically represent excerpts from intimate/private conversations and writings by you. My intention is to create work that sutures my personal psychological affliction to those of the viewer. 

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Zelé Angelides was born in Johannesburg 1988. She graduated in Graphic Design at the University of Johannesburg (cum laude). There after she did her postgraduate in Photography, a medium she has always been enamored with since childhood. Her work has received several awards including a Gold Loerie. Throughout her commercial career she has photographed various fashion, sports and brand editorials. She is concerned with the body, femininity and portraiture in her personal artwork. She currently lives and works in Johannesburg.