south african photographer jodi windvogel shares the raw spirit of cape town

The magic of photography is that it preserves. Preserving time, environment, and culture in a single frame speaks volumes–almost as valuable as experiencing it up close.

Thanks to the chillingly organic images captured by South African photographer Jodi Windvogel, viewers everywhere are granted an intimate perspective of an unpublicized society. A native of the Maitland neighborhood in Cape Town, Windvogel lets her curiosity be the lens, and allows for a naked glimpse at the inner-workings of her hometown and its people.

Being a documentary/street photographer, it is clear that relaxed precision is this creative’s specialty, as as she illuminates various aspects of her community–from its children to its churches to its adolescent and recreational culture–Maitland is pedestrianized and relatable, adding to the beauty of each portrait.

When a neighborhood is struck by gentrification–and non-communal businesses flourish paving way for a synthetic metropolis–there is rarely any consideration for the cultures beneath the blueprints; it is from this realization that Windvogel sets out to preserve the roots of her homeland, and share the untold stories it holds.

“I would like to instill a sense of worth and restore their dignity.” She explains in a recent interview with Johannesburg’s Between 10and5, “The iconography of coloured people has always been disfigured and marred — it’s either as gangsters, drug addicts, beggars on the street or the narrative is reformed, a reformed gangster or reformed criminal.”

It’s art like Windvogel’s that helps to shift the narrative, and as she solidifies her natural truths, audiences have no choice but to learn something new.

Check images from out Jodi Windvogel’s eye-opening series below!