Jo'burg photography picks: February 3 2012

Photographer Sabelo ­Mlangeni has fixed his gaze on women and men whose everyday ­experiences have brought out something ­visually theatrical in their lives.

An early series concentrated on Jo’burg city’s ghostly female ­night-time street sweepers and another looked at effeminate men in a small-town ­setting.

His exhibition brings together two bodies of work: Black Men in Dress and Iimbali. The ­former comprises a series of portraits taken at Johannesburg and Soweto gay-pride celebrations and the Iimbali series was photographed at reed dances in KwaZulu-Natal and Swaziland.

Stevenson Gallery, 62 Juta Street, Braamfontein, until ­February 24. The gallery is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and Saturday from 10am to 1pm. Tel: 011 326 0034.

■ Johannesburg city provides a ­constant source of fascination for photographers and many have used the urban landscape to comment on the divisions that still plague our society.

The exhibition Split Facades is “a photographic project that explores the duality of experience and physical interaction that are manifested in the continuously changing ­landscape of Johannesburg city. The ­project aims to interrogate how the ­continuing push towards a globally marketable, gentrified ‘­African’ city ultimately fails to consider the ­informal but longstanding identity and ingenious culture of ­Johannesburg’s current inhabitants.”

This is the statement by curator Thato Mogotsi, who has juxtaposed a series of black-and-white prints by photographer Kutlwano Moagi with audio and video installations.

Goethe on Main, Arts on Main, Maboneng Precinct until February 26. Tel: 011 442 3232.