John Baloy uses photography and visual arts to tell the distinct tales of Africans through an Afrocentric lens and surrealism.
John Baloy is amongst the most exceptional and talented illustrators in South Africa. Through photography and visual arts, Baloy portrays black people as works of art with hopes to inspire different perspective of people of colour. With great intent and detail, his photographs tell the distinct tales of Africans through an Afrocentric lens and surrealism. Growing up in Evaton West, South of Johannesburg, his interest in visual arts developed to what it is today. Although, he doesn’t have a tertiary education qualification in art, he has great experience in graphic design
Baloy says that “being African, I wanted to document the unique experience of black people portraying them as works of art. The prominent theme of my work is colourism within the black community, Love and social identity as well as symbolic themes from an African perspective.” In 2013, it took inspiration from seeing the Instagram accounts of Iseeadifferentyou, Rog Walker, Streetetiquette and Andile Buka for Baloyi to buy finally purchase to first camera. As his passion intensified in 2017, it became apparent to him that he needs to pursue photography full-time whittled to quit his job for 4 years as an Automotive Electrician.
“I then began assisting for different photographers to be familiar with the industry which led to me to shoot a lot of commercial work for various brands and campaigns. I struggled to fit in the commercial scene because my work was always considered too artsy. After a lot of introspection I made a conscious decision to be more intentional with my work and I began shooting fine art photography”, says Baloy
John Baloy’s drive to fulfil his heart’s desire to take on a career as a photography and visual artist, has turned out to be productive. Baloyi has worked with established brands and featured in notable exhibitions such as DESTINY magazine, Bombay Sapphire, PRIZM Art Fair Miami 2020, VSCO 2020, Adidas and just to name a few.
