Before photography there was looking. Yamkela Mafoco grew up in Khayelitsha, and later settled in Kuilsriver where much of his creative learning took place, inadvertently. He looked at his peers, the way they dressed, how they wore their clothes, and how they carried themselves before he had words to describe who they were.
His intrigue with the expressive nature of style developed, and found another home. Mafoco, professionally known as SNAPPEDBYCOZY, is a Cape Town born visual artist based in Johannesburg.
His practice takes up photography as a medium to explore fashion, township, culture, and identity. The lighting in his images feels natural, as does the cinematic quality of them, but the focus on people and the environment is what stands out.
Photography gave him an outlet to channel this inquisitiveness into.
A Camera He Wasn’t Looking For
Mafoco did not set out to become a photographer. It happened inadvertently, and he learned as he went along. In September 2024, while walking around campus with his friend, he asked to borrow his camera to take a few pictures.
Mafoco had no prior plans, and wanted to attempt taking photos with the camera. The outcome of the pictures was surprising to him, but in the best way possible. He instantly felt a sense of freedom behind the camera, having found an activity that made him want to go home and pursue it even more.
He taught himself photo editing, downloading the relevant software until he mastered it. It was as if he engaged in a self-learning process, where the outcomes of the photos dictated what needed to be done. Mafoco’s process involved making mistakes, looking at the outcomes, and correcting them. This was how he learned photography, inadvertently, and it became his creative process.
The People Around Him Are Part of the Practice
The subjects and references in his photos can be likened to his inadvertent learning process. Fashion, for Mafoco, had always been a way people expressed themselves. His photography practice often reiterates this notion of self-expression through clothing and style.
It is through his lens that the relationships between people, style, environment, and identity are examined. The township is a reoccurring imagery in his work, not because it is a constructed idea for the camera, but because it is part of his lived experience.
This is perhaps why his photos often feel familiar, as if the subjects in them are engaged in activities people do in their everyday lives. Mafoco’s process is intuitive in this sense, he photographs what he likes and lets this dictate the kind of work he makes. It is this intuitive approach to making his work that has allowed him to find a voice in photography.
When Your Community Becomes Part of the Story
This intuitive approach has also defined the kinds of collaborations Mafoco engages in.
He recently worked with the designer Mzukisi Mbane, founder of IMPRINT SOUTH AFRICA . This was the first time the two worked together, but Mafoco has known Mbane since he was a child. They were neighbours in Khayelitsha. He knew of the work that Mbane did, and the rise of the label, IMPRINT SOUTH AFRICA . Mafoco saw that the success of his work was a reflection of the potential his own work could achieve. Seeing someone from his community, his neighbour, gain in fame and fortune, was a motivating factor for him.
It speaks to the kind of environment Mafoco grew up in, where creativity thrives, and the work reflects the community’s aesthetics and ethos. It is not uncommon for Mafoco’s community to feature in his work, but it is often a lived experience. This is how the community becomes part of the narrative in his work. The people around him serve as his references long before any form of collaboration takes place.
Making Work Without Chasing the Reaction
Mafoco’s relationship with his audience is similar to the one he shares with his community. His work is intended to speak to people, but he is not beholden to their reaction. He is not chasing affirmation from his work, but he wants people to relate to it.
“It’s always a humbling experience when something I’ve created connects with people, but that’s not my initial aim. My aim is to create what I like, and hopefully people will recognize the work and appreciate it.”
He prioritizes making work he likes over seeking validation from his work. This is an intuitive approach to his practice, and a realistic one at that. It is common for emerging photographers to chase reactions from their work, and often find themselves frustrated or disheartened by the reception. Mafoco’s process allows him to remain independent from this, as he makes work he likes. He is then able to present it to the audience, allowing them to interpret it on their own.
From Taking Pictures to Building an Archive
The work Mafoco makes has also been getting attention from audiences unfamiliar with his work. His work has recently been exhibited at the SCIN2025 research display in Dubai, as well as DC100 campaign, which spotlights creatives contributing to making South Africa great. Mafoco has been building his practice, and it is time he built an archive.
He is currently working on his photography book, compiling a collection of images that depict his lived experiences. Mafoco also hopes to have an exhibition of his photography, where one day his work can hang in an exhibition space for more people to experience.
This will be the next step in his intuitive approach to his practice. The work he makes is not only a collection of personal moments and insights but also one that he wants others to experience. A single photograph that appears on social media will be fleeting, vanishing within the scroll of the next image.
A book, however, allows an audience to spend time with the work, to engage with it on a deeper level. It allows the photos to exist together, to have a sense of place as a collection of Mafoco’s work, rather than moments captured by him. It will allow people to see what he sees, from his perspective, in turn learning more about the community and environment that inspires his work.
For someone whose practice started as something spontaneous, a curiosity that made him want to pick up a camera, building an archive of his work is a way of making his observations more permanent.
The Practice Is Still Becoming
There are no easy answers, really, in Mafoco’s journey.
He did not set out to become a photographer, and could not have predicted how his inadvertent learning would come to define his practice. He borrowed a camera from his friend, and he liked the results. He taught himself photo editing, and he kept doing it until he mastered it.
He worked with his friend, Mzukisi Mbane, and continues to invest in relationships with his community. Mafoco is often intuitive in his approach, but it has earned him a reputation for his work. He is building his practice, and it is still becoming. It will continue to evolve, and take on new forms, but the process will remain the same. The focus on people, community, environment, and style will remain the same. It is how he found his voice in photography.
Two years from when he first borrowed a camera from a friend, Mafoco is still figuring out where this voice will take him. He is intuitively learning, growing in his practice and, inadvertently, he may just surprise himself again.
