The Anthology of Youth is a body of photographic essays and video works by Musa N. Nxumalo exploring urban youth, counterculture and identity in post-apartheid South Africa. Centred largely on Johannesburg, the project examines how a generation navigates freedom, belonging and self-expression within a society still shaped by historical and structural inequalities.

From Alternative Kidz (2009) to We Are Running Out of Hashtags! (2020), Nxumalo documents nightlife, alternative music scenes, social gatherings and the everyday lives of young Black South Africans as they establish spaces of community, resistance and self-affirmation. Working from within the social and cultural environments he photographs, his practice is informed by personal experience and a close relationship with his subjects. His images combine an intimate documentary approach with a distinct visual language shaped by black-and-white photography, direct flash and the emotional immediacy of lived experience.

Developed over fourteen years, The Anthology of Youth constitutes an evolving visual archive of a generation coming of age in a changing South Africa. It also marks a formative chapter in Nxumalo's artistic practice, establishing observation, participation and long-term photographic inquiry as central methods of his work. These approaches continue to inform his ongoing investigations into Southern African landscapes, land stewardship and the relationships between people and the environments they inhabit.