South African photographer John Baloyi creates portraits that seem to float between reality and reverie. His compositions are deliberate, his use of light masterful, and the presence of his subjects — often Black men and women — monumental. Each image evokes stillness, a pause in time where identity is not just captured but transformed into myth.
Born in Evaton West, Johannesburg, Baloyi’s journey into photography began not in art school, but through a self-taught, intuitive exploration of light and form. Initially trained as an automotive electrician, he eventually transitioned into photography in 2013. That background, though technical, mirrors his approach to image-making: meticulous, patient, and deeply concerned with connection. His influences include the moody intimacy of Rog Walker and the grounded elegance of Andile Buka, yet Baloyi’s voice remains unmistakably his own. On Instagram, where his visual diary lives under @john.baloy, his images stand apart—soft yet striking, deeply personal yet archetypal.
“I want to inspire an alternative perspective of people of colour, presenting them as works of art,” Baloyi explains.
Baloyi once said he creates portraits to “inspire an alternative perspective of people of colour — presenting them as works of art.” This intention is visible in every frame. His lens doesn’t just see; it sanctifies. His subjects are often still, their presence amplified by minimal surroundings or painterly shadows. The image becomes a vessel — the body a monument, the expression an invocation. Through his photographs, Black identity is rendered not through tropes or trends, but through poise, emotion, and timeless visual architecture.
Baloyi’s work explores complex and often underrepresented layers of Black identity and cultural memory. In his portraits of Black men in particular, he dismantles the archetype of hardness, presenting instead vulnerability, softness, and introspection. His subjects are not reduced to symbols but are offered space to simply be. Their faces, gestures, and silences become statements of inner life and strength. Styling and posture often reference traditional African aesthetics but refuse to settle into ethnographic familiarity. Instead, the photographs flirt with the surreal, the sacred, and the speculative — creating a quiet, Afro-surrealist language of their own.
His unique visual language has earned the attention of global clients, and Baloyi has worked on creative campaigns for brands including Adobe, Adidas, Levi’s, PUMA, Standard Bank, and Bisquit Cognac. These collaborations feel like extensions of his artistic voice rather than diversions from it. Whether shooting for fashion, tech, or lifestyle, his images maintain a careful balance between cultural nuance and visual poetry. His commercial work retains the same quiet dignity that defines his personal portfolio, elevating the aesthetics of everyday Black life without compromising its depth.
Baloyi’s photographs have also been exhibited internationally, including at the AKAA Art Fair in Paris and Gallery Les Robinsonnes, where he was featured in the group exhibition Bloom. His work has been profiled in editorial publications like Destiny Magazine, SA Creative, and Fisheye Magazine, where critics have celebrated his ability to frame the Black body with a sense of serenity and myth.
There is something timeless in Baloyi’s images. His portraits do not perform identity — they protect it, exalt it, and offer it room to breathe. The photographs do not ask to be decoded but to be experienced. In a visual world dominated by excess and immediacy, John Baloyi reminds us of the power of stillness, of presence, of being deeply seen.
“I see my work as a way to challenge perceptions and offer something spiritual — something transcendent.”
