# i PROJECT DESCRIPTION 090718 8mb # i JODI BIEBER 18mb # i focuses on the youth of Johannesburg, aged 15 to 23: a generation that did not grow up under apartheid, and who have the ability to access and communicate using technologies that integrate them within a larger global community. Having different historical experiences than those of their parents, they have their own visions and expectations of themselves and of South Africa. In this campaign, I collaborated over a period of three years, starting in 2016, with a wide range of 45 young people from Johannesburg – from different cultures, income …

An ongoing project (most recent work, not yet public) on the largest and most isolated province in South Africa

I  spent a day  in The Johannesburg Female prison photographing and interviewing women who have murdered their husbands. Most of the women I spoke to killed their partners or had their partners killed in self defence. Most of the women were seeking Amnesty from The South African Government. In South Africa… One woman is killed every six days by her intimate partner One woman is raped every 26 seconds One out of four women is beaten regularly by her intimate partner

TIME magazine commissioned me to create a portrait series of a diverse range of women in Afghanistan for a feature called “Afghan Women and the Return of the Taliban” written by Aryn Baker which ran in August 9, 2010 issue. Aisha was living in a shelter for women in Kabul when I met her. It was recommended by the Director of Women for Afghan Women where Aisha was sheltered  that when photographing her  I be sensitive to the stress she suffers due to her having been violently attacked. Aisha was held down and had her nose and ears cut off …

I spent a month in Las Vegas at The White Wedding Chapel photographing couples at The White Chapel portrait studio as part of my ongoing project “Looking for Love”

An ongoing project collaborating with different people around the world to create my own some kind of wonderful world.

The importance of Soweto in the collective consciousness is hard to overstate. It registers as a place born of resistance, perhaps even embodying the South African struggle for freedom. Like the rest of Johannesburg, Soweto came into being as a consequence of the discovery of gold; the mines and resulting industrialisation needing workers. Sections of the shanty town that grew up were gradually turned into formal structures of mortar and brick, and apartheid policies swiftly followed, with devastating result. Our combined image of Soweto is often overwhelmed by this meta-narrative, by its resultant socio-economic hangover, as much as by the …

I was born, as were my parents, in South Africa and lived there most of my life. When Hector Peterson was killed in the Soweto uprising in 1976, I was ten years old. Living in a middle-class suburb, I didn’t have much political understanding of what was really going on in our country. The townships, and the lives of the people there, seemed far removed. Yet, in the suburbs, as for many white children in South Africa at the time, there was always one black person with whom a close and special bond developed. For me it was with Betty Makhabela, who was like a surrogate mother. She …

On the shore of Lake Tanganyika, Baraka has been the scene of unceasing suffering since the first war started in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in late 1996. Caught in-between the cracks of a conflict opposing the various Congolese, Rwandan and Burundian armed groups and militias struggling for the power in the area, the civilian population has been subjected to brutal killings, persecution and pillaging that has forced them into a cycle of displacement-exile-returned-displacement. Deprived from hardly any access to health care and facing constant food insecurity, the people of Baraka area have become a highly vulnerable population that …

In 2010 when I visited Moscow, superficially, I noticed how many women wore miniskirts. For Russians, it is a common sight but it can be said that anywhere in the world a Russian women walking down the street will turn heads as this specific stereotype of appearance exist. I received the opportunity to choose a project for “Expedition G20” I thought this was a perfect time to explore the social and psychological reasons behind the miniskirt and the role women feel they play in Russian society. Ivanovo was selected for the project as traditionally it has been called the textile …

“When you get to know us we are not as bad as they make us out to be. We are just people who lack affection; who, instead of offering love, are on the defensive and quickly react by showing our claws in response to the attitude of our society.  1/ Accept us. 2/ Support us.  Signed: Cesar, Valencia. Spain In Spain, one of the main methods of transmission of HIV/Aids is through the use of sharing needles when injecting drugs. A lack of social support, condemnation from society, an industry with no control or regulations has isolated drug users from …

Text in context to 2001 Since the first democratic elections in 1994, there has been a strong increase in immigration – people making their way across the border into South Africa. War, famine and poverty in Africa make South Africa an attractive option for a better life. The borders around South Africa are extensive and impossible to secure. Therefore the Department of Home Affairs with the aid of the South African Police Services deports approximately 180 000 immigrants a year . It costs the government R300 (Euro 30) to repatriate an immigrant from a neighbouring country without a valid residence …

Quiet challenges ways in which men are traditionally represented. It opens up a space for complex conversations surrounding masculinities: violence, representation through media and art, power , justice, understanding and it opens up the space for men to see themselves in alternative ways. The media helps, as Dr Jackson Katz, US educator, filmmaker and author puts it, to “construct violent masculinity as a cultural norm. It is of interest to men, and to society in general, that the normality of violent masculinity be challenged in order to create space for men to see themselves in other ways. Pull back the …

Solo Exhibitions My mid career exhibition “Between Darkness and Light” and exhibition “Quiet” are framed and available for future exhibitions. Please send an email to jodi@jodibieber.com for further specifications. 2021 Montelimar Photo Festival, France 2020 Addis Photo Festival, Ethiopia, December 2020 (postponed) 2020 Real Beauty/Between Dogs and Wolves, Howard  Greenberg Gallery, New York (postponed) 2020 Soweto, L’oeil Urban Photographic Festival, France  (postponed) 2019  #i Rencontres de Bamako, Mali 2019/2020  Making Feminism, The Syker Vorwerk, Germany 2019 #i Oliewenhuis Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa, 2019 August Works on Gender, Vegesacker Geschichtenhaus,Bremen 2018 Between Darkness and Light, Selected Works 1994-2010. FotoZA, SA 2018 …

Real Beauty has been inspired by a number of events, the primary being my own life. My forties have brought a feeling of more comfort within my own skin than when I was younger.This project is an extention of a Dove billboard advertising campaign in London showing ordinary women in their underwear advocating and speaking up for Real Beauty. Advertising campaigns don’t usually draw my attention, but this one did. A model sitting next to me on the way from London to Paris emphasised the extent to which Photoshop is used to enhance beauty. She was not in the least …

BIOGRAPHY Jodi Bieber’s passion and concerns lie with her birth country, South Africa. Her practice engages with the political, societal, and economic circumstances of our times. Her life experiences have influenced and inspired her photographic choices. Central themes explored deal with contemporary issues related to Gender, Politics, and Identity, often contradicting the mainstream media narrative. Her photographic projects are exhibited both locally and internationally in museums, galleries, festivals, and institutions. She has won numerous international awards, including the Premier Award at World Press Photo in 2010 for her photograph of Bibi Aisha. The photograph appeared on the cover of TIME …