My Place In This Place
This project is an external exploration of my attachment to this township, using photography. I explore the memories and stories that lay in my mind and my feelings from those memories in this township.
The thought and knowledge of losing my grandmother haunts me as she was murdered during what is now known as the Boipatong massacre. With this project I want to document my personal growth in exploring and facing this memory attached to my township, using this place and its people as words to my visual essay. The people also serve as a source of information, by talking about their experience and feelings about the Boipatong Massacre to help reflect mine.
I photographed scenes that speak of my feelings of isolation and detachment having grown up an introvert, thus distancing myself from the community and my neighbors. During those times I was told stories of my grandmother who was murdered during the Boipatong massacre in June 1992. Knowing this grew my interest in this township and its untold stories that would fade in time, just as the knowledge and wisdom faded with the loss of my grandmother.
To communicate this I used a combination of Portraiture, Landscape and Still life Photography. I feel that combining these allowed me to fully explore the environment allowing me to reflect on my emotions and thoughts.
In the journey of finding parts of myself in this township I was inspired by Tsepo Gumbi’s A place called Sharpeville where he photographed his home town, a township located south of Gauteng in the Vaal. From seeing his work I realized how one can communicate not only information, but emotion using landscape photographs.
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 My Place In This Place, View the exhibition on-line or by visiting the Boipatong Monument. My Place In This Place This project is an external exploration of my attachment to this township, using photography.
