Migrants,
exiles and refugees all share the experience of displacement. Whether fleeing
from political persecution war or seeking better economic opportunities, people
from all over Africa have come to Cape Town, seen as the city of opportunity at
the foot of the continent, to make a new life.
Here,
the newcomers face fresh difficulties gaining a foothold in communities already
struggling to give their own families better lives.
In
this series of six portraits, the subjects are listening for the first time to
an edited version of their life story, recorded on a previous occasion. The
seriousness of each participant in the project is reflected in the intensity of
their facial expressions. The series updates the classic African photographic
studio genre. The black and white backdrop used in the studio is a photo of
Cape Town’s Table Mountain.
