BORN FREE – Mandela’s Generation of Hope

Ilvy Njiokiktjien

Twenty five years ago, in 1994, Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first black president and his nation was a free country. The segregation system of apartheid had ended; Mandela had high hopes for the youth.

The children born in the years following the end of apartheid are now young adults: the born-free generation for whom racial segregation is a thing of the past. They were to be the face of a new, free and successful South Africa.

Ilvy Njiokiktjien’s personal project, which has spread over twelve years, looks into how free the born-free are actually living, and how modern day racism influences their day-to-day lives.

Artist Bios

Ilvy Njiokiktjien

Ilvy Njiokiktjien is an independent photographer and multimedia journalist based in the Netherlands. She has worked in many parts of the world, with a focus on Africa. As a news and documentary photographer, she covers current affairs and contemporary social issues.

She was born in the Netherlands, and after leaving school she studied for a year in South Dakota (USA), before returning home to study journalism and photography. She graduated in 2006, and started working as a freelance photographer.

Her work has appeared in The New York Times, TIME, Newsweek, Der Spiegel, STERN, Telegraph Magazine and many others.

Her pictures have been exhibited in several museums and photo festivals. After working on a story about the right-wing organization Kommandokorps in South Africa, she was listed by PDN as one of the 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch. She was also named as one of twelve participants in the 2012 World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass.

Accolades include a Canon AFJ Award, two World Press Photo Awards, and two POYi’s Awards. In 2013, Ilvy Njiokiktjien became Photographer of the Nation in The Netherlands. In that year, she travelled extensively throughout the Netherlands to photograph 100 birthday celebrations. She believes that showing the way people celebrate, also shows much about their culture.

Organizations

Photoville

Founded in 2011 in Brooklyn, NY, Photoville was built on the principles of addressing cultural equity and inclusion, which we are always striving for, by ensuring that the artists we exhibit are diverse in gender, class, and race.

In pursuit of its mission, Photoville produces an annual, city-wide open air photography festival in New York City, a wide range of free educational community initiatives, and a nationwide program of public art exhibitions.

By activating public spaces, amplifying visual storytellers, and creating unique and highly innovative exhibition and programming environments, we join the cause of nurturing a new lens of representation.

Through creative partnerships with festivals, city agencies, and other nonprofit organizations, Photoville offers visual storytellers, educators, and students financial support, mentorship, and promotional & production resources, on a range of exhibition opportunities.

For more information about Photoville visit, www.photoville.com
Dutch Culture USA

Dutch arts, culture, and shared cultural heritage are represented in the U.S. through the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Washington, DC, and the Consulates General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Atlanta, Chicago, Miami, New York, and San Francisco. The headquarters for cultural services is the Press and Cultural Affairs Department of the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in New York. Monique Ruhe, Cultural Attaché for the Netherlands to the U.S., heads this department, which further consists of Robert Kloos, Deputy Head and responsible for Visual Arts, Architecture and Design; Noah Waxman, Senior Policy Officer and responsible for performing arts, film, literature; and Shomara Roosblad, Senior Cultural Officer and responsible for shared cultural heritage and old masters.
VII

VII is a storied photo agency, founded a few days before 9/11 to challenge the convergence in the photography business, when the trend for giant companies swallowing smaller independent agencies started. VII went small and photographer-owned, believing in the power and energy of collective effort, when everyone else seemed to be going big and corporate.

VII remains a disruptive and innovative business, unafraid to swim against the prevailing currents. VII has turned its gaze far from the frontline of its foundation. It has earned a reputation for uncompromising photography immersed in the great issues of today. VII photographers and filmmakers are as likely to be found focusing on race, gender, and identity, as they are on migration or conflict.

Amplifying local voices and addressing the complex political, environmental, and social questions facing families everywhere, VII places great value in the power of images to tell important stories. The members of VII are motivated by issues, and are proud to elevate those issues above the cult of the image, or the cult of the photographer.