What makes us strong
My year project empowers and uplifts women, queer and non binary individuals. It gives people a voice and a platform to share their opinion, story or art. It is about representing women, queer and non binary individuals for who they are. It is about celebrating and embracing who we are and who we can be. It is about showcasing emotions, empathy and love. If we look at the images in my year project called 'what makes us strong', we can get an idea of how different all these individuals are, what their interests might be. In every photograph you can feel a different emotion and look into the eyes of the model and see the story that they are telling. These pictures aren’t beautifully airbrushed, over edited photographs. These photographs capture true beauty. Raw beauty. Authentic beauty. These photographs capture moments into these models lives. Moments that you wouldn’t usually see anywhere. They transport you to that moment and give the viewer a sense of joy, one even feels empowered when looking at these photographs because these pictures communicate not just a sense of empowerment for the model but also a form of empowerment for the viewer, because we can finally see ourselves in these images. We see human form. We see real life.
My process for “What makes us strong” is a very personal process for me and my models. Throughout the project I wanted to make the space a comfortable and safe space as much as possible and allow the model to feel their complete selves. I held a space for people’s voice to be heard. A space full of dancing, love, laughter, conversation and energy.
This project will continue to grow, I aim to make an issue every second month with different people featured. I also want to make this book accessible as possible. I plan on selling each book and giving all of the profits I make to women’s legal centre, an organisation that helps women legally and aims at changing legislation in South Africa.
I have never experienced a project where I have felt so fulfilled as a photographer capturing people, feeling an extreme sense of joy throughout the whole process.This felt different to my other photography projects as I had less control and more freedom, it was about representing the model for how they would like to be seen/heard/represented. I have learnt so much from the people who have helped me with this project. They truly inspire me everyday and I am so happy that I can grow with them.
This has been a tough year for everyone because of COVID-19 but I am proud of my project and I know that this will be one of my biggest achievements yet. I am excited to see the results that come from this project and I am more than excited to continue it in 2021. Over the course of this project my photography skills have increased, I have become more confident and have found new ways of shooting. Most of my images were shot on film in this project and I feel confident with the growth that I have made shooting on medium format. The medium that I have used has started to shape my photographic style and has allowed myself to slow down during my shoots. My studio work has also improved and I am happy with how the studio images have come out. My critiques for the project is that I wish I shot more people and got more models on board, when I carry on this project I will make sure that I go more out of my comfort zone and shoot more people that I have never met before.
Video by: Kayla Kolker
