Deborah Rossouw: Framing Presence Revealing Africa
Nov 3, 2025
Cape Town South Africa
Deborah Rossouw doesn’t chase moments; she makes time stand still for them. After a decade as an art director she stepped behind the camera with a different mandate: to reveal presence dignity and connection without the noise.
“I don’t chase trends or noise; I tune into the signal beneath them.”
From Art Direction to Human Direction
Deborah’s years in advertising sharpened her instinct for clarity. Light that sculpts, composition that speaks, stories that hold. Now she applies that precision to people and place, creating images that don’t perform for attention; they earn it. Her portraits and landscape studies feel unhurried, intimate, and deeply intentional.
Works That Breathe
Still Africa
A hush between landscape and life. Open plains, soft air, and faces that carry tomorrow. This series explores coexistence: subjects rooted to land, light rooted to skin.
Africa Stories
Commercial briefs threaded with human truth. Community scenes, labour, and everyday poise. The brief may be brand; the memory is always human.
Drakensberg Stone and Sky
A long form conversation with place. Tonality, altitude, weather, breath. Quiet, never empty.
Zimbabwe Fishermen Quiet Waters
Labour slowed into ritual. Hands, nets, and patient light. Dignity becomes the composition.
Give Her a Crown Jaguar × Manthe Ribane
Commercial instinct meeting cultural power. An ode to presence as authority. Stylised, modern, and unmistakably African.
Why Deborah Belongs on Poison Boy
At Poison Boy we celebrate creators who don’t just make images; they make meaning. Deborah’s lens is respectful, resonant, and exacting. She doesn’t document Africa from the outside; she frames it from within. When the moment stands still, what remains is presence and our responsibility to honour it.