Since my last posting we have selected the first recipient of the Gisèle Wulfsohn Mentorship in Photography. Her name is Sydelle Willow Smith and she is originally from Cape Town. The Mentorship Programme is managed by the Market Photo Workshop, and they announced the news here.
Sydelle's project is entitled 'Making Neighbourhood - Experiences of conviviality between African Nationals and local South Africans', and she describes her project as follows:
"Visually, immigrant stories in South Africa and in other parts of the world aremostly marked by daily experiences of discrimination and exclusion. I am investigating the other sideof the coin to understand the complexities of relationships formed across porous boundaries, negotiatedin the everyday. The xenophobic attacks of 2008 in South Africa revealed widespread localizedprejudices towards “foreign” Africans, sparked by a lack of resources and job insecurities that are stillprevalent today. Yet, it is important to focus on ways people live past these stereotypical prejudices. My anthropological training has informed my view of diasporic identities and the malleable nature ofculture and nationality...'Making Neighborhood' deals with convivial relationships between African nationals and SouthAfricans. I use the term conviviality to describe experiences of social inclusion and togetherness... The topic is complex, but an important one tobreak down and capture in the form of photographs."
Sydelle is tackling a critically important theme in South Africa - how we build a welcoming society in which people from different backgrounds and nataionalities can integrate effectively and with welcoming support to build their lives and make a contribution to building our new, peaceful democratic dispensation. She will be producing a body of work over the coming year and we are looking forward to seeing how her project unfolds.
My intention is to sustain the Mentorship Programme for a number of years and to do this I am establishing a capital fund from which the annual costs can be met. As part of this fundraising effort I have been running an online photographic auction through which I am selling prints donated by South African photographers who were part of Gisèle's professional and personal network. You can view the prints that have been donated on my Facebook page. Anyone who wishes to bid in this auction can contact me directly. The auction closes on Friday 21st December.
More details about Gisèle's life and the Mentorship Programme, as well as the auction, can be seen here in this Business Day article..
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