Lavonne Bosman

Independent Photographic Artist living and working in South Africa. Currently living in Asia, Vietnam.

From 2011 - 2013 I lived in a very rural and one of the poorest areas of my own country South -Africa. An area known as the Transkei (apartheid-era homelands to the people of the amaXhosa culture, also birth land to our ex-president Nelson Mandela).

It was a very interesting and fulfilling journey getting to know some of the people and a bit of their culture and language. The photographs depict my experience, so you may be able to have a glimpse with me into this very special culture and people, otherwise so cut off from the rest of the world but who has so much to teach us in the modern and developed world. The concept of 'Ubuntu' can be roughly understood by these quotes "I am, because we are" or "Being human is to affirm the humanity of other people". Basically treat other people as you would like to be treated yourself.

I've been living in Hanoi, Vietnam since 2019, working on a project "Photo Art Stories" of Vietnam and also working as Photography guide and mentor at Vietnam in Focus, photo tours.

Stellenbosch University, BA Drama
City Varsity, Cape Town, Photography

Ilungile (It is good), Artscape Theatre, Cape Town, 2009. A photographic exhibition featuring a selection of photographs taken in the townships around Cape Town during 2007-2008.
Makhelwane (My Neighbour) In conjunction with The Associazone de Piemontessi, Cape Town, featuring a selection of photographs taken during 2 years of living in the rural Eastern Cape (Birthplace of Nelson Mandela, The Wild Coast / Transkei) documenting the characters of the isiXhosa nation.
"Licht der Hoffnung" 2016 - solo exhibition in Chur, Switzerland in conjunction with Swiss SMART (Sustainable mountain art program). A three month project I completed about migration in the Swiss Alps.
In 2018 I had a dual solo exhibition at the GUS gallery in Stellenbosch with my Swiss project and portraits of the amaXhosa.