Perspectives 1st Place

Making our way home from school is a simple, nostalgic, universal activity that we can all relate to. This project explores the tumultuous public lives of young people in the gang-governed Cape Flats area of Cape Town, South Africa, where their daily commute carries the risk of death. Using handmade, lo-fi experimental techniques, this project explores how young people have to walk to and from school avoiding the daily threat of gang crossfire. Through poetry, analogue photography, drawings, collages and cyanotypes, an intimate portrayal of adolescence amidst stark social divides is created that offers a rare insight into this confusing and challenging world.

London-based photographic artist Laura Pannack (b. 1985) is renowned for her portraiture and social documentary projects, which explore the complex relationship between sitter and photographer. The recipient of numerous accolades, Pannack has been exhibited and published across the world.