Biography

Chris Ledochowski was born in South Africa in 1956 and grew up in Johannesburg. He attended school at Waterford - Kamhlaba in Swaziland. In the late seventies he studied for a diploma Fine Art at the Michaelis School of Find Art, University of Cape Town, majoring in Photography. In the early 1980s he joined Afrapix, an independent photographic collective, that was instrumental in documenting the social conditions under which South Africa’s oppressed lived as well as their struggle against the Apartheid system. In the Chris2 years running up to the new dispensation Ledochowski contributed to numerous anti apartheid exhibitions and publications. Apart from documenting the ongoing struggles and strife in the township communities on the Cape Flats he dedicated much of his time to documenting the formation and development of the Congress of South African Trade Unions and related worker organizations within the Western Cape.

Not withstanding his role as social documentary photographer, Ledochowski took on a personal approach in exploring the lives of people in disadvantaged communities. This also took the form of portrait photography where he hand painted his portraits for people in the community.

Click here for an introduction to Chris and
here for his exhibitions and productions.

In the late 1980s, Chris' long standing experience and relationship with the Cape Flats communities drew him to documenting the rich creative and cultural expressions found in these townships for the next fifteen years. The long-term colour photographic project culminated in a book publication and exhibition Cape Flats Details which was exhibited at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003. His essay formed part of an exhibition ‘The Structure of Survival’.

In 2003 he also held a solo exhibition of Cape Flats Details at Michael Stevenson Contemporary in Cape Town and at Photo za in Johannesburg. The work was later exhibited at the Polish Institute in Paris, France, as part of the Mois de la photo in 2004. The group exhibition- Autres Lieux, Autres Regards, Pologne-Afrique - featured Polish photographers in Africa from past to present; Jan Czekanowski, Casimir Zagourski, Ryszard Kapuscinski and Chris Ledochowski.
Cape Flats Details was later exhibited at The Visiting Gallery in Warsaw, Poland in 2005.

Chris' ePhoto book Dialogues was published in 2021 and can be seen here. It was followed by a printed limited edition. Recently he began a collaboration on a project photographing people of Polish origin in the Western Cape.

Chris is currently finalising a book publication, Return to Nthabalala, based on his 30 year project on the Ledochowski family's then domestic employee, a migrant worker from Venda, Limpopo.

Chris' work has been widely acclaimed and has been displayed at many national and international exhibitions. He is regularly invited to collaborate on group projects and contribute to exhibitions. He continues to work as a freelance photographer in Cape Town.

Information on living family members will be included in this website only if submitted or approved by them. Informacja o żyjących członkach rodziny może zostać umieszczona na tych stronach jedynie w wypadku gdy dana osoba wyrazi zgodę. Jan Ledóchowski