HE’S OUR MAN IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. former FORBES AFRICA 30 Under 30 lister and South African photographer and creative director Trevor Stuurman is currently featuring his first solo exhibition outside of South Africa.



The collection of self-portraits, Trevor Stuurman: Life Through The Lens, opened in May at Doyle Wham, a contemporary African photography gallery in the UK.



“What I’m most looking forward to is entering a new market and having a different audience to my work. I’m quite comfortable with my digital audience but having an audience within a gallery space, and the opportunities that will bring – to just have my voice and my work living, having multiple lives outside of the digital space,” Stuurman says of this new personal show.



Hailing from Kimberley in South Africa’s Northern Cape province, Stuurman burst onto the scene after winning the ELLE Style Reporter Search award in 2012.



He has since photographed the likes of Barack Obama, Beyoncé, Teyana Taylor, Shanelle Nyasiase, Gigi and Bella Hadid, Kendall Jenner and Imaan Hammam.



But his favorite yet? Naomi Campbell.



“I think she’s such an icon and shooting her gave me so much more confidence. She’s someone who does not hold on. And she trusts. She didn’t want to go through the images, she just said ‘pick your favorite and let’s go’. That instilled a lot of trust in me, that someone like a supermodel and an icon like herself would have so much trust in someone like me. It marked a moment in time in my life as well,” says the happy lensman.



Rihanna would be a dream to photograph, he mulls. Yet another would be Trevor Noah, firstly, because they share a first name and are both South African. Stuurman loves how far Noah has come, how he breaks down an issue, whilst still giving his point of view. He’s unbiased and biased, he adds.



But Stuurman has never seen himself as art, despite being a muse to many. He asked unnecessary questions while shooting for the Doyle Wham exhibition.



“It was a good exercise of self-care and self-love. So I think it’s definitely a test of self-love. And a celebration of that as well,” says the distinctive creator and AFDA graduate.



Another solo exhibition, A Place Called Home, in Johannesburg, South Africa, is ongoing in partnership with art curator Botho Project Space, until June 19.



The more Stuurman leaves home, the more he realizes the power and currency home has, his website says.

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Meet The African Artist As The Muse Who Has Taken His Work International

His love for fashion and film led him to Senegal where he experienced art as an everyday lifestyle.



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This young man from Kimberly in the Northern Cape Province
of South Africa has cemented his name in front of and behind the camera and
just as Midas would turn all things into gold, Trevor Stuurman turns all things
African. 



As a kid, Stuurman used to draw, then decided to explore
photography, and further studied film. 



In 2012, he was an Elle Style Reporter winner that launched
his career in the fashion and photography world. 



“That was my introduction into the publishing world,”
Stuurman says in a phone conversation with me.



He has since gone on to show his work all over the world and
over the years, been invited to photograph the best street style looks at Pitti
Uomo (a trade event for menswear and men’s accessories) in Florence. 



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But no place in the world entices him quite the way Senegal
does, he says. He visited the African country mid last year.



“I went to Senegal for the Dakar Fashion Week in June and I
was able to connect with a lot of creatives and saw a lot of raw talent. I
think being able to connect with talent and being able to create work and
collaborate organically was one of the best experiences,” he says.



The first thing Stuurman noticed when he got to Senegal was
how art is a part of their everyday life.



“When you go to Senegal, there is so much art around you
that it becomes a lifestyle. Art is just a daily practice. It was beautiful to
see it in an organic and an everyday fashion, where art is not overly thought
out, where a painting is not to make a statement, but to just be a way of life.
Art and dressing up is a daily practice.” 



Stuurman visited Senegal for a week and recalls the French
spoken around him; the Senegalese are far more receptive and warm, loving and
giving of their time, he says.



“In terms of the fashion week, it was very interesting
because of the format; it was one-of-a-kind. It has different venues and each
day has a new narrative as opposed to the traditional fashion week. What I took
from there is being able to celebrate each other’s differences as opposed to
trying to find the commonality,” he recalls.



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Stuurman is no stranger to celebrating differences and
forging collaborations.



He has an honors degree in motion picture and live performance, and has co-directed a documentary Ubuhle Besintu on South African textile and knitwear designer Laduma Ngxokolo.



“The documentary was shot in 2013, and we were both still in
Cape Town at the time. Trevor was&nbsp; a
student then and he asked me to be a case study for his assignment,” remembers
Ngxokolo.



“At the time, I used to often work alone in my work space. I
was the jack of all trades in my company. I did everything from sales, to
accounting and design, so it was very rare to have other people in my space,”
Ngxokolo reflects. “I shared my journey and cultural outlook with him. I am Xhosa,
so there are certain cultural practices he wasn’t aware of because he comes
from a different background.”



&nbsp;Today, Stuurman works
with record label Soulistic Music&nbsp; which
has collaborated with globally-celebrated DJ Black Coffee. 



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The stable’s marketing manager, Neo Chabedi, who also
manages Stuurman, tells FORBES AFRICA they have worked together for the past
year. 



“It’s been an eye-opening experience working with Trevor,
it’s really just great to watch how creativity gets delivered and accepted
through social media or a campaign he is working with, be it Absolut or being a
photographer for Naomi Campbell. He is just an amazing, humble person,” Chabedi
says.



Stuurman was also invited to speak at Oxford University on
how he is reframing the African narrative, but that trip was not as memorable
as Senegal.



Following his camera around the globe, Stuurman has also
photographed former United States president Barack Obama at his ancestral home
in Kenya. 



For the 27-year-old lensman, the world is his everyday stage.

Tag: trevor stuurman

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

Meet The African Artist As The Muse Who Has Taken His Work International

Executive Travel: Trevor Stuurman’s Senegal