"The Envisioned Self"

Kamohelo Mahlatsi, 2019 - Ongoing 

The Envisioned Self draws from the philosophy of Steve Biko, who defined the “envisioned self” as a liberated state of mind one free from internalized oppression. Engaging this concept in a contemporary context, the project asks what psychological freedom means for a generation born after apartheid, and whether such freedom has truly been realized.

Prompted by a personal encounter with Biko’s I Write What I Like, the work emerges from a process of self reclamation and an embrace of Black identity. It centers individuals with features historically subjected to stigma dark skin, full lips, broad noses, coarse hair reframing them as sites of beauty, presence, and power.

The images are deliberately performative: subjects engage in gestures of transformation through prayer, ritual, or intoxication, each navigating their own path toward a “free self.” These acts reflect the complexity of liberation as both an internal and external negotiation.

Rendered primarily in black and white, the series references the visual language of apartheid-era photography imagery often defined by violence and subjugation. Here, that aesthetic is reclaimed and softened, offering an alternative archive in which Black life is neither reduced to trauma nor spectacle, but articulated through dignity and introspection. 

One episode within the series, titled Wonke’s Envisioned Self, is the only work presented in colour. It features Wonke, who lives with albinism and comes from a Katlehong himself. His presence engages directly with Steve Biko’s understanding of Blackness as something beyond pigmentation, expressed through his assertion that “Being black is not a matter of pigmentation but a reflection of your mental attitude.” Through Wonke, the work considers Blackness as an identity shaped by consciousness, experience, culture, and belonging rather than appearance alone. The use of colour becomes a deliberate shift within the series, allowing his envisioned self to exist outside the visual language established by the other works and emphasizing the complexity of what it means to see and define oneself as Black.

At its core, the project confronts the persistence of bias attached to Black physicality while proposing a counter-vision one grounded in affirmation, self-definition, and psychological emancipation. It insists that the work of liberation is ongoing, and that the “envisioned self” remains both a personal pursuit and a collective necessity.

— Kamohelo Mahlatsi