Cape Town, ZA. December 2019.
South Africa is home to an ethnic group known as Coloureds. They are native to the country, with a swirl of African, White, South Asian and East Asian roots. On the one hand, the moniker was codified under the 1950 Population Registration Act as a government designation of that thing which was most offensive to the White Supremacist executors of Apartheid: racial mixing. On the other, it’s a title pridefully worn by many South Africans today as a self-proclaimed racial identity. According to a 2011 census, Coloureds make up 45% of Cape Town's population, and genetic studies suggest they have the highest level of mixed ancestry in the world.
These images were made after lengthy conversations I had with each of my subjects, all of whom self-identified as Coloured. We spoke at length about how our experiences of race, identity, belonging and senses of home differed and mirrored each other across continents and cultures. We shared feelings of self-confidence and pride in identity, counterbalanced by a feeling of in-betweenness—of not knowing what we could rightfully claimed as our own culture, distinct in its own right.
I am grateful to each of my subjects—Micah, Carley, Matte, Suminski, Michelle and Serge—for your candor and warmth.