Midway through an exhibition of his best work at Hallmark House Hotel on 15 October, 23-year-old Johannesburg-based photographer Maverick Seizure went up to his room, grabbed his camera and rushed back to the exhibition to start taking pictures. “I’m sure people were just amazed by that, but it’s just in me,” he says. “I love this thing bro, I love it. It’s a part of me, it’s second nature to me now.”
The exhibition, which was titled Nix Mapha, was hosted by Bas, the Grammy nominated rap star who rose to prominence nearly a decade ago as J. Cole’s Dreamville Records protégé.
Typically, Maverick — whose real name is Kgotso Michael Aphane — is the guy behind the lens. But on that particular day he was the star of the show as he exhibited his favourite images during his brief but prolific career as the go-to photographer for some of the biggest names in showbiz. The exhibition was also an introduction to the next chapter of his career, which will see him curate his own photo books.
“That was me showing how I’m moving more into the art word,” he explains. “So essentially, I’m trying to move into art and photo books. I’m working on a book that I’ll release in the next two years. It’ll be very personal to me, very artsy, but still have that touch of Maverick Seizure. But it’ll also have journal entries cause we go through a lot that people don’t see.”
The exhibition also marked his first time seeing his pictures printed out and blown out like that. “It felt so good, it felt like real art. I take time with my colours. In terms of editing, colour is very important to me. I put time into that, they’re never the same but they give off the same energy.”
The exhibition was set up into several different series which were divided into the cities that he’s been to and captured. The first series was Soweto, which is where he grew up.
“People thought it was six or seven different photographers. People were like, ‘My favourite photographer is this one or that one’. And for me I’m like, ‘Yes!’ It’s easier to see how much variety I have in real life than on the ’Gram. It’s easier to see how much variety I have in terms of my editing. I take colours seriously; that for me is like Jazz music, it’s always different. I go with the feeling.”
The idea for the exhibition came after a conversation Maverick had with Fred Kayembe, who designed and curated the exhibition. During that conversation, Kayembe suggested that Maverick showcase his photography as part of the second volume of Nix Mapha, the collaborative art series for which he is the creative director. As the prospect of the exhibition stewed in his mind, Maverick decided that it’d be beneficial to do the exhibition while The Fiends, the New York-based creative collective founded by Bas, were in town for the recent Rocking The Daisies festival.
“We just wanted to be part of the whole hype of them being in the country,” he says. “Those guys are family bro, so they didn’t even twitch. They were like ‘hell yeah, we’re gonna do anything for Mav.’”
Bas has been one of Maverick’s most important clients. He recalls how he first got an Instagram direct message from Bas during his first visit to South Africa, back in 2019.
“He’s like, ‘Yo, we’re staying longer in SA and we like your shit. If you don’t mind we’d like you to come with us on the road’. And I’m like, ‘Hell yeah’. I knew his music bro. I used to listen to his music in matric. So at this point I’m sleeping on the couch at Kwesta’s office just to wake up to go to Sandton and wait downstairs for Bas,” beams the photographer.
Maverick grabbed the opportunity with both hands and documented the remainder of Bas’ stay. A few weeks into his stay, Maverick recalls how as they were leaving a video shoot in Soweto, he mentioned to Bas and the crew that he hadn’t seen his family in a few months and asked if they could pass by so he could see them.
Maverick — whose real name is Kgotso Michael Aphane — is the guy behind the lens. Photo: Supplied
He regales me with the story of how this all unfolded: “Bas was like, ‘Hell yeah, let’s do that’. Now Bas is parking outside my crib and I’m stepping out in my hood and I’m like, ‘Yho is this me?’ Bas then said he wanted to come in and meet my family. That’s the first day I would say my grandma believed in my dream fully. Now I’m showing him the kitchen, the bedroom where I grew up. As we’re walking into the living room where I used to study I start shivering. I’m like no fucking way is this nigga here and this is where I used to study and listen to Bas. I was fooling around on my phone and on Tumblr while I was supposed to study but his music made me want to study, ‘Dude just finish what you started then you can go back to following your dreams’. And now this guy’s next to me.”
At that moment, Maverick came up with the idea of taking a picture of the entire The Fiends collective and his family outside.
“As I’m taking that picture I’m shaking,” he recalls. “I couldn’t believe it. The reason I didn’t want to be in that picture is because of the inspiration I got in terms of how I started photography. I always saw pictures of myself as a kid, but never saw pictures of my mom cause my mom was always the one behind the camera. So I was like, I need to be telling this story, not me being behind in the picture and asking someone else to.”
In the years since, Maverick has travelled with Bas and his clique as they’ve toured the world. He shares an interesting experience he had during a concert in the tiny European nation of Latvia. “Before Bas gets on stage, there’s a thing me and the videographer do where we inspect the stage and see where we’re gonna move and how we’re gonna move when he’s performing. So as I’m going on stage, the crowd goes crazy. I’m the only one on stage at this point. It’s a lot of people, the whole concert is there waiting for Bas to get on. And I’m thinking they’re thinking I’m Bas, but I have a camera with me. I take out my phone then I go closer to the edge of the stage. I start recording and they go crazier. Bro, that was a crazy experience. It was just white people that’ve never seen black people, and black people are it for them. I had the best time there.”
He credits travelling the world for helping him realise that there is still a lot to be done for him to reach the top. That, and constantly remembering where he came from, has helped him stay grounded and maintain the same hunger for his craft.
“You know when you come from nothing, you can never forget that kid that started off and had a dream and bet on himself. I was supposed to go to school for like accounting sciences and all that shit but I was like ‘nah, I don’t see myself in the office’. So that kid that bet on himself and said ‘you know what, I’m gonna do photography”, that kid is still in me bro. I still see that kid in the mirror. I can never lose that hunger cause I still have younger brothers looking up to me. I’m now 23 and I’ve gotten to a place where I never thought I’d be.”
Maverick describes himself as a massive film fan. After he releases his photo book, he intends to go to school abroad to study psychology.
“I wanna do more psychological films. My mind is very insane, I’m always thinking about crazy things. I need people to see me the way they see Christopher Nolan and David Lynch. That’s the level we’re tryna be at. There’s no way it’s impossible, clearly. I’ve been on the road with J. Cole, shit that I never thought would happen. Clearly everything is possible.”
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