A Vibrant Portrait of Afropunk in South African Townships Today

South African photographer and filmmaker Karabo Mooki was born in Soweto in 1988, just shortly before the system of apartheid finally collapsed.

“Ironically, I can recall a sense of freedom, even though I was born in a place that was designed to keep Black communities oppressed,” Mooki says. ​“Soweto taught me the strength of love and how a powerful support network of family and friends can empower people. I met lifelong mentors who instilled a sense of confidence, taught me to embrace culture, and reinforced the importance of identity.”

Mooki moved to the suburbs of Johannesburg as a child and describes the feeling of living through racial integration as ​“a balancing act.” As he got older, he noticed the deeply entrenched divisions apartheid had left in its wake.

“Although I grew up in an era of change, daily occurrences in my life meant having to confront the realities that exist beyond the picturesque ideologies of democracy,” Mooki says. ​“I realized the weight of institutionalised colonialism created doubt in my own self-worth.”

Afropunk offered a much-needed antidote to the relentless undertow of systemic racism that continues to this day. Mooki got into Soweto’s punk scene via the skateboarding scene in Johannesburg, which he documented in Island Girls, a series devoted to uplifting women athletes and centering their stories in an historically exclusionary sport.

In Soweto, Mooki felt a kinship with the teens and young adults that were building a scene all their own. ​“They were reshaping the narrative of what it means to be Black and from the township,” he says. ​“They rejected the idea of being left out of conversations and were actively dismantling stereotypes and challenging the media’s voyeuristic perversion of what Soweto is.”

With the new exhibition, Afropunk Countercultures in the South African Townships, now online at Autograph, Mooki takes us inside Soweto’s vibrant counterculture with works from his series, Dogg Pound Days, made between 2016 – 2024. The exhibition takes its title from the ​“Dogg Pound,” home of the band TCIYF, which throws open its doors to host touring punk, metal, and hardcore bands.

The result is a portrait of young Soweto as seen from the inside looking out, riven by a powerful sense of purpose. ​“I was inspired by our determination to build something together as a community against those who preferred to see us fail,” says Mooki. ​“I started documenting these stories out of passion and I was awarded the trust of a community and a responsibility to share the truth of my peoples’ stories.”

More than half a century since punk emerged, it has defied commercialization and commodification, its adherents remaining true to its roots and using their voices to speak truth to power. 

“The Soweto punk movement has created a stronger sense of community,” says Mooki. ​“It embodies a revolutionary spirit and ignited a sense of pride among the youth, inspiring the to come together to create a legacy of their own.”

Karabo Mooki’s Afropunk Countercultures in the South African Townships can be explored online at Autograph.

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