About

Sanele Xaba is a South African model, actor and founder based in the Netherlands, working across fashion, screen and founder-led projects. He founded Rolled Sleeves Foundation, focused on access to school-community eye care, and Subtropic Festival, a new house-music and cultural platform in Cape Town.

He first entered the fashion industry through modelling and became known for work that challenged narrow ideas of beauty and representation. What began in front of the camera has grown into a wider body of work across performance, advocacy and the creation of platforms built around access, visibility and cultural participation.

His career spans campaigns, editorial work, runway and cultural projects across South Africa, Europe and the United Kingdom. Alongside fashion and screen work, he has built initiatives addressing vision access, education, representation and cultural participation in South Africa.

Across these different fields, the through-line is practical: using visibility to create work with a clear point of view, then building structures that can exist beyond the image itself.