On colourful backgrounds of his own creation, Vuyo Mabheka reclaims his history. With the few photos he has of himself as a child, imagination merges with reality.

The Afrikaans word “pophuis” refers to a dollhouse game familiar to children. Vuyo Mabheka builds the Popihuise series based on this game, using cutouts from rare childhood photos of himself. He creates interiors and scenes where he appears, sometimes accompanied by imaginary friends — represented by people from his community whom he has secretly photographed, and sometimes in the presence of a fantasised and faceless father figure.

The series features a few core elements: drawings, collages, and photographs, coexist in a seemingly naïve and tender universe. Shiny cars, skyscrapers, burning tires, and new pavilions contrast with cultivated fields, colourful birds, graffiti, and blossoming trees.

Among these images, which highlight the tension between liberalism and modernity, stands a child almost helpless in the face of his harsh reality: Vuyo Mabheka, who is rewriting his memories and reclaiming his own world.

Popihuise is Vuyo Mabheka’s first book.

Biography

Vuyo Mabheka ( born in 1999 in the rural town of Libode in the Eastern Cape, South Africa) lives in Thokoza, Johannesburg.
In 2017, he discovered photography through the Of Soul and Joy project – a creative platform that aims to provide the township’s youth and its surroundings with professional skills in the field of photography.
Vuyo Mabheka is the recipient of the 2023/2024 Images Vevey Special Jury Prize, and Popihuise series is exhibited at the Biennale Images Vevey 2024.
Mabheka is represented by Afronova Gallery, Johannesburg.