SOLO SHOWS
2019
Memories of Dreams, TMRW Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2017
Nightscapes: Cape Town, Red Bull Studios, Cape Town, South Africa
2016
Nightscapes: Johannesburg, Kalashnikovv Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
GROUP SHOWS
2021
Into the Night, RESTUDIO, Johannesburg, South Africa
2020
The Matter, Off Dakar Biennale, Dakar, Senegal
154 Contemporary African Art Fair, AFRONOVA GALLERY, La Mamounia, Marrakesh, Morrocco
2019
154 Contemporary African Art Fair, La Mamounia, Marrakesh, Morrocco
Paris Photo, focus Johannesburg, Galerie Magnin-a, Grand Palais, Paris, France
SWAY, NOW Gallery, Centurion, South Africa
2015
If You Leave Showcase, Embassy East, London, UK
2012
Wish You Were Here, an architectural group exhibition focusing on Johannesburg, Wish, Johannesburg, South Africa
Marrakech : La foire 1-54 prend ses quartiers à La Mamounia, Jeune Afrique, February 2020
1-54 Marrakech: que collectionner, Diptyk Magazine, February 2020
Sortir: à Marrakech, le week-end sera arty ou ne sera pas, TelQuel, February 2020
The vivid, sometimes surreal, nightscapes of Johannesburg, The Washington Post, December 2019
Like a love letter to Joburg, this incredible photographer is showing a different side to the city!, GoodThingsGuy, December 2019
10 to see: Paris Photo, Aesthetica magazine, November 2019
Fragments : Une Ville De Nuit Par Elsa Bleda, Partfaliaz, November 2019
Elsa Bleda Turns Cape Town into an Atmospheric “Zone” at Night, The Phoblographer, July 2019
Si Johannesburg m’était contée, Afrique in Visu, May 2019
“Midnight Gothic”: Photographer Elsa Bleda Captures South African Johannesburg In Neon Nightscapes, Design You Trust, January 2019
Elsa Bleda Captures Neon-Lit Istanbul in “Mirror World / Istanbul”, The Phoblographer, September 2018
You’ve never seen South Africa like this Before, Hunger, April 2018
Elsa Bleda All strange things happen at night, We Transfer, We Present
Nighttime City Scenes Bathed in Neon by Photographer Elsa Bleda, Colossal, November 2017
Moody Nightscapes Capture City Streets Radiating a Neon Glow Around the World, My Modern Met, November 2017
Electric photos of a neon-lit Johannesburg at night, Dazed, April 2017
17 people who have our attention in 2017, Mail and Guardian, January 2017
Colorful Night Neon Lights of South Africa, Fubiz, November 2016
Photographer, writer, model, mermaid, movie-addict, filmmaker: Trevor Beattie meets Elsa Bleda, The Drum, April 2016
Another Look at our Favorite Neon Smothered Visuals from Elsa Bleda, UNRTD
Born in 1988 in Aix-les Bains, France. Lives and works in South Africa.
Elsa Bleda’s main body of work titled Nightscapes captures the South African inner cities after midnight and has been ongoing for close to a decade.
Johannesburg became a strong influence on her work as her bond with the city grew stronger. She has developed an unconventional yet strong visual identity over the years and her night works are so aptly described as post-future gothic, uniquely composed through the use of light as well as its absence, in juxtaposition to her daylight works which are often dreamy and softer with soft color plays and an eerie mood.
In 2016, Elsa started Memories of Dreams, a spiritual journey through the misty mountains and small towns of Kwazulu-Natal region of South Africa.
Bleda has worked with Apple, Lexus, Red Bull or Adidas to name a few. In 2019, she was the co-creator and the face of New Horizons, the biggest commercial campaign Lexus had created to date and her first immersive exhibition Memories of Dreams opened at TMRW Gallery. In 2020, Bleda started collaborating with a tech company to work on immersive and tech influenced exhibitions, as well as experimental film creations.
She was featured in various publications such as Washington Post, Dazed, Mail & Guardian, The Drum, Wetransfer, Konbini and her work was exhibited at Paris Photo, 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair Marrakech and New York, the Dak’Art OFF 2022 and the African Biennale of Photography in Malaga.
NIGHTSCAPES
