My name is Lavonne Bosman. I was born on New Years day 1977 in Utrecht, a small town in South-Africa. I first picked up a camera in 1999. After all these years I’m still super passionate about taking pictures!
As a child, I used to walk barefoot and live in a total fantasy world. Iāve always been a bit of a gypsy and I’m a bit obsessed with caravans. I have lived in caravans in Coffee Bay, the rural Transkei for over 2 years and another 2 years on a little organic farm in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
I’ve also lived in inĀ Rotterdam,Ā London,Ā IrelandĀ andĀ Vietnam.
My favorite memories as a child are of road-tripping through South Africa with my family. My parents used to move around from house to house or town to town and they were also avid campers. This instilled my deep love for caravans and traveling. Always looking forward to discovering a new place.
ABOUT LAVONNE BOSMAN PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTIST
As a photographer, I started out with my first Pentax K1000 camera when I was 22. I focused on 50mm black-and-whiteĀ film photography.Ā I was initially interested on portraits and the decisive moment.
Later, with digital photography, my style evolved to what I now callĀ āPhoto Art Storiesā. Some influences on my style include the photographers Henri Cartier Bresson and Sebastio Selgado. My photography is also impacted by the film directorĀ Wes AndersonĀ and classical painters like the French Post-Impressionist painter,Ā Seurat.Ā (In particular, his painting “Sunday afternoon on the island, La Grande Jatte“)
About Lavonne Bosman Photo Art Style
My photos serve as a type of picturesque historical documentation. Iām driven by an urgency to guard memories of life along a rapidly evolving human journey. To preserve visual reflections before the current reality ceases to exist and be forgotten by future generations.
I like to experiment with available light to create a painterly look in my photographs. My biggest compliment is when someone says any of my photos look like a painting š I call my work Photographic Art, because I don’t see it as just photographs, it is my art.
Ideally my photographs should be printed and appreciated as large scale wall art and they look beautiful hanging framed in homes or other spaces.
I love to share my work and give people a glimpse into the world I see and the marvelous things that sometimes unfold before my eyes when I go exploring.
I love taking the roads less traveled and I welcome those who want to join me!
Studies
I studied photography at City Varsity, Cape Town in 2000, specializing in Black and White film, darkroom processing and printing. The following year, which was at the height of transition between film and digital photography, I started to work at Digital images Solutions, one of the first digital studios in South Africa. I worked as a pack shot photographer and also assisted some excellent, very experienced and well known local photographers, such as Robbert Koene, Gerda Genis and Mickey Hoyle.
London
After that I went to London for two years to rekindle my initial love of natural light film photography. In between working as a child carer I was able to rent a little darkroom to process and print my black and white photos. At the time these were mostly street photography and a flash photography project about the underground squatters scene of London.
townships
When I returned to South Africa, I worked for the Niall Melon Township Trust for a while over two years from 2007 – 2008 and had the opportunity to explore the townships, like Khayelitsha and Imizamu Yethu, outside of Cape Town. I had my first solo exhibition āIlungile, it is goodā at the Artscape theatre in Cape Town (This project focused on portraits of the amaXhosa people living in informal settlements, or townships around Cape Town) in 2009.
About Lavonne Bosman Photo Art in the transkei
In 2011 I moved to the Transkei, the rural homelands of the amaXhosa people, on the East Coast of South Africa. Here I lived for over two years, getting to know the amaXhosa people and their language and Ubuntu (I am because we are) culture, as well as teaching basic literacy and English to the local kids. I produced the follow-up to my previous project “Ilungile” and titled it “Makhelwane, my neighbor“.
winelands, cape town
Upon my returned to ‘civilization’ from the Transkei, I lived in and around Stellenbosch, the Winelands of South Africa, for about 4 years. During this time I traveled around as performance photographer with the Psychedelic Theatre, taking pictures for them. A little bit of my caravan – circus – life dream come true! I also practiced a lot of candid documentary type portraits while doing Artist, Couples, Family and Wedding photography.
About Lavonne Bosman Photo Art in switzerland
In 2016 I received an extremely rewarding opportunity to do a three month ‘artist in residency‘ project with SMART , the Sustainable Mountain Art Program in Switzerland. There I stayed in the small historical Alpen village of Medergen (famous for its rich migrational history of the “Walser people”) and worked on a project about migration in the Swiss Alps titled: “Licht der Hoffnung”
The project focused on the dual stories of the historical “Walser people” and their seasonal “transhumance” as well as the current situation of about 100 asylum-seekers living in a ski-hotel at the foot of the mountain.
Following the project I had a solo exhibition in the city of Chur nearby and in 2018 I had a follow-up exhibition at the GUS gallery, Stellenbosch in South Africa. The project was also further included in exhibitions and publications in Europe to raise global awareness of the current issues.
This project also appeared as a 10 page spread in the French magazine L’Alpe. You can view the complete article here:
About Lavonne Bosman Photo Art in vietnam
In 2019 I moved to Hanoi, Vietnam, where I lived and photographed the streets and some of the beautiful country until 2023. I created two limited edition postcard books entitled “Street stories of Vietnam“ and “The Flower market night“.
back home
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