Sean Metelerkamp

Sean Metelerkamp was born in 1984 in Knysna, South Africa. The darkroom at boarding school was where he began experimenting with photography while MTV and the internet transfixed him on weekends.

These interests led to photographing and directing music videos for independent South African musicians; the most notable was for Die Antwoord in Zef Side, which was exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 2010, as well as the Guggenheim Museums in Bilboa, Berlin and Venice as part of YouTube Play.
New York Times – “The Home Video rises to Museum Grade”

Zef Side won the D&AD Yellow Pencil for Best Music Video in 2011, and was exhibited at the Museum of the Moving Image in Cincinnati and New York in 2013 as part of Spectacle, which explored the music video as an important and influential art form in contemporary culture.

A six-month residency followed at Residency Unlimited and during this time abroad Sean connected with Death Grips. Together they made Black Google, Eh and Interview.

Back home, in 2014, Sean trekked throughout South Africa in a Kickstarter-funded project called Twenty Journey that culminated in Sean’s debut feature documentary, which opened the Durban International Film Festival and won the award for Best South African Documentary.
Variety – “Durban: Fest Opener ‘Journeymen’ Explores Authentic South Africa”

Noupoort (Drug Education Council Ministries) was where Sean spent three month-long stays between 2011 and 2013 to understand his brother’s drug and alcohol abuse. A self-published book was produced in 2020, which contains photographs and excerpts from interviews with the residents. Read the Afterword and listen to the Interviews.