Lindeka Qampi was born in 1969 in Bolotwa, South Africa, and currently lives and works in Khayelitsha, a township near Cape Town. A street photographer, Qampi first learned the elements of photography through a consortium of photographers known as Iliso Labantu in 2006. Her work captures the most significant aspects of daily township life—of which she is a part—from the private sphere to the euphoria of play. She has documented everyday life from different townships around Cape Town, focusing on a variety of issues: the limited availability of land, cultural differences, creativity, awareness of cultural norms, the value of a shared history, and, most recently, township fashion. Qampi’s photographs are unselfconsciously optimistic, delighting in the vitality of pleasures known and shared by all.
Qampi has shown her work in exhibitions in South Africa and abroad, including at the Gordon Institute for Performing and Creative Arts, University of Cape Town (2013), Erdmann Contemporary, Cape Town (2013), the Cape Town Art Fair (2013), the Pingyao International Photography Festival, China (2013), Barnard Gallery, Cape Town (2013), AVA Gallery, Cape Town (2012), and the International Africa Festival, Wurzburg, Germany (2010), among others.
