Skip to content
photo

Alice Mann wins Taylor Wessing prize for majorette photo series

Catherine Saunders-Watson
Catherine Saunders-Watson
photo
(From left to right) Wakiesha Titus and Riley Van Harte, Cape Town, South Africa, 2018; Keisha Ncube, Cape Town, South Africa, 2017; Tanique Williams, Cape Town, South Africa, 2018; Taylim Prince, Cape Town, South Africa, 2017 from the series Drummies by Alice Mann © Alice Mann; first prize winner, Alice Mann, with her portraits. Photograph by Jorge Herrera.

LONDON – Alice Mann has won the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2018 for her portrait series on the all-female teams of drum majorettes in South Africa’s Western Province. The £15,000 award was presented to the South African photographer at an awards ceremony at the National Portrait Gallery, London on Tuesday 16 October 2018.

For the first time in the competition’s history the judges have awarded the first prize to a series of four pictures rather than an individual photograph. Mann spent three months photographing different teams of girls across South Africa’s Western Province, beginning at the Dr Van der Ross Primary school in one of the poorer parts of Cape Town. Many of the drum majorettes, or “drummies,” come from South Africa’s most disadvantaged communities. Mann (b. 1991-) is a South African photographic artist based in London whose intimate portraiture essays explore notions of picture making as an act of collaboration.

“The images are part of a much larger body of work, which is a combination of a more documentary approach and portraits,” said Mann. ‘These four portraits are some of my favorite images, especially the one of Riley and Wakiesha because they are so charismatic. For these girls, involvement in ‘drummies’ becomes a vehicle for them to excel, and the distinctive uniforms serve as a visual marker of perceived success and represents emancipation from their surroundings. Continuing my consideration into notions of femininity and empowerment in modern society, it was my intent to create images that reflect the pride and confidence the girls achieve through identifying as ‘drummies.'”

The judges’ commented: “Mann’s series is consistent in its evocation of a sustained and intriguing narrative. Each sitter is precisely framed within a carefully considered composition, and the girls confidently meet the camera’s gaze. Their pristine and vibrant outfits jar with the rundown surroundings, lending a surreal and enigmatic atmosphere to the portraits.”

The winning portraits will be on display at the National Portrait Gallery, London as part of the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2018exhibition from October 28 to January 27, 2019.

#   #   #