Elsa Bleda was raised travelling and eventually settled down in South Africa in late 2006 as a teenager. Whilst studying music production, Bleda continued her passion for photography and film. After graduation, Bleda decided on moving forward with visual arts. Her Nightscapes Johannesburg series and dreamy landscapes gained her world wide recognition in both the film and commercial worlds. The subject matter, her home city Johannesburg, became a strong influence on her work. 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 color plays and an eerie mood. Along the same timeline, Elsa started working on her Chinatowns of Africa project. Chinatown’s of Africa carries a narrative about foreign minority groups and their existence within African society. Her body of work has attracted major brand collaboration. Her first major collaboration was shooting a global campaign for Apple, focusing on the underground artists of South Africa and was shown on all major billboards around the world. She recently became the face of Lexus’ latest campaign “New Horizons”. Bleda shifted her focus on technology in the meantime and has collaborated with South African tech companies for immersive experiences. She created her recent solo exhibition in 2019, ‘Memories of Dreams’ in which the subject matter is a spiritual journey through the foggy mountains of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. Elsa is currently working on her photography book to be released in 2021 and her film journey through art-house projects.
