Silver / 2023 / Portraiture / Other

• Prize
  Silver in Portraiture/Other
• Photographer
  Bongani tshabalala, South Africa

Montsho meaning Black is a famously used word in South Africa to make fun of a dark person as a result of their skin tone. This photograph explores emotional effects of childhood teasing which causes young black boys and girls end up being depressed and forces them to have low self-esteem.

Montsho opens conversations around the representation of the black body and black lives as a subject matter and challenges the idea that Blackness is homogenous. For me this photograph is both about destruction and preservation, it’s about what we choose to embrace after going through trauma.