Childhood Nostalgia
SPHUMELELE ZONDI
Photography
Originally Published: 19 December 2025
My work captures moments that speak to memory, community, and the fleeting essence of childhood. I seek to preserve these experiences while offering a contemporary reflection on life within rural–urban spaces. Growing up in Sweetwaters, Pietermaritzburg, I have witnessed both the resilience and hardships of my community, and these experiences shape my work; they speak of the environment, the people, and the spaces that defined my upbringing.
The images I am submitting explore childhood as a space of innocence, freedom, and the quiet, zoomed-in pain of what lies behind the figures. They offer light and illumination to environments where that spirit can often feel lost, revealing both the beauty and the unspoken weight carried within these moments of play and joy.
In my process, I approach each image as a story—a story of play and of the everyday rhythm that unfolds within African communities. My portraits, often of children, are fragments that speak of a larger picture; they are glimpses into moments of innocence, peace, and joy that exist within these spaces.
Through these intimate portraits, I aim to reveal the beauty and freedom that coexist with the realities of scarcity, and the light that continues to shine in places often defined by struggle. Growing up in a rural environment shaped by these challenges, I find myself drawn to what brings life to the community—the laughter, the play, and, above all, the children who carry its spirit.
The Creative
SPHUMELELE ZONDI
Sphumelele Zondi (Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal) is a South African Visual Artist and photographer whose practice is rooted in memory, place, and the lived experiences of rural–urban communities. Born and raised in Sweetwaters, a rural area with aspects of township life often described as a rural–urban fringe community, Zondi uses photography to depict nostalgic images of childhood, evoking freedom, play, and the layered realities of growing up in environments of scarcity.
Zondi holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a Postgraduate Diploma from the Durban University of Technology. During her studies, she also contributed as a tutor in the Visual Arts field. Her practice extends beyond photography; she has worked with ceramics, exploring texture, form, and the tactile nature of making. Alongside this, she creates sculptural works using paper and cardboard to speak to the fragility of place, the disintegration of land, and how these shifts echo into childhood and adulthood. Her multidisciplinary approach allows her to move between mediums with ease, weaving together themes of memory, environment, and the delicate structures that shape human experience.
Through her photography, Zondi seeks to bring light through the quiet portraits she captures, reimagining childhood as a space of freedom and expresses how moments of innocence and play stir the inner child that lives quietly within us all.