By Malebo Pheme and Relebohile Mohapi
In the township’s centre, where dusty clouds rise like incense and the sun baptises the earth in gold, Ntikana Ramohlale is not just snapping shots – he’s collecting soul, spirit, and story.
The photographer is from Moletjie Ga-Matamanyane, Limpopo, and currently based in Makhanda while studying at Rhodes University. Since 2018. Ramohlale has evolved from a casual memory-maker into a compelling documentary, lifestyle, and street photographer with a growing following on Instagram.
“When I started photography, it was merely a form of storytelling and memory-making,” he said. But what began in 2018 as capturing moments with friends has turned into something larger. “You should turn this into a business; you’re very good at it,” was advice that prompted him to purchase his first camera. Encouraged by others to sell his work and buoyed by growing recognition – 10 000 Instagram followers and counting – Ramohlale was prompted to reflect deeply. “What message are you sending?” he asked himself. “What stories are you telling?”
Those questions shifted everything.
Photography, for Ramohlale, is a way of preserving memory – of capturing what often goes unnoticed. He considers himself a documentary photographer because of this purpose: to record, to remember, and to honour. “I don’t think of myself as the most experienced,” he admits, “but there’s always more to learn – from my muses, from other photographers.” Entirely self-taught, he praises YouTube as his go-to mentor: “The world is your oyster!”
His unassuming attitude is striking. “One of the most important things to me is that my work should speak for me. What I look like or how I dress should not be what people remember of me.” And indeed, trailing him through the streets of Makhanda, it’s clear that his presence is quiet but powerful. People call out to him. He clicks his camera with ease. Even after walking the same paths countless times, he still discovers fresh subjects and moments.
Recently, Ramohlale came upon township children swimming in a stream. On the opposite side, white swimmers floated freely. “It hit me,” he said. “When it’s Black children swimming here, it’s poverty. But when the white folks do the same action, it’s leisure.” His lens exposes the weight of perception, and questions why joy should be interpreted differently depending on who experiences it.
He sees beauty in the overlooked: boys playing soccer on dusty streets, grandmothers with knowing smiles, children braiding each other’s hair after school. But these aren’t just images. “To me, they are not photographs at all. They are memory. They are proof,” he said.
This layered sensitivity was evident in a talk he gave at Rhodes University’s Fine Art Department. He shared how, in a moment of clarity, he watched people gather in what appeared to be a vacant, unfenced field. The awe with which they approached it made him realise: this was sacred space. “It reminded me of African-Initiated Churches, where spirituality and nature blend. Holiness isn’t about buildings and stained glass – it’s in the body, in the earth, in the sky.”
Through this lens, Ramohlale’s work challenges the popular narrative of aspiration and success. “People are stuck in this idea that if you’re not living a middle-class lifestyle, then you’re not living. But I see something else. I see resistance. I see Black joy.”
That joy, he believes, is a statement. It is resistant. “There exists a Black joy. In the midst of struggle, too. Even in the dust. And is it not lovely?”
Whether photographing well-known musicians like Msaki, Young Stunna, or Thato Saul, or documenting the everyday lives of Makhanda’s residents, Ramohlale transforms the ordinary into art. His Human Rights Day photo walk was one such celebration – a gathering of creatives, a walk filled with laughter, advice, and connection.
His message to young photographers? Nurture your art. Take many pictures. Use all the resources at your disposal. And perhaps most importantly, let your work speak.
Ntikana Ramohlale is not only shooting people. He is preserving prayers.
