I am applying for the FotoVisura Grant for outstanding personal photography to support a photographic documentary of the plight of African women in coping with the impact of HIV (the spread of the virus) and AIDS (the effects of the disease) and their role in leading the way forward for effective HIV prevention in Africa.
For the past three years, my work in HIV prevention has taken me to South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland and Kenya. I have used photography for project documentation and to tell the story of the many local and international HIV prevention efforts that are occurring throughout Africa. I pursued photography part-time and obtained credible field experience by photographing people in Africa with whom I developed genuine relationships. I have combined my education in public health, anthropology and communications and practical field experience in rural and urban Africa with my passion and talent in photography and with my greatest strength, my ability to connect with strangers, who open up to me and come to life, allowing me to capture their true essence in my photos. The grant will enable me to further develop my skills and demonstrate, through pictures, the importance of developmental strategies that focus on the cultural and historic power of African women to achieve positive change.
My experience in Africa has taught me the value of placing African women at the forefront of HIV prevention, acting as behavior change agents for reducing the prevalence of new infections. I have been working with these women for three years and am particularly interested in the use of photography for relaying that message. For example, in 2007 I worked with Young Heroes in Swaziland, an AIDS orphan support organization that enrolls female community elders in the care of the large orphan populations in their villages. I used photography to document the activities of these women and report back to donors on the progress of the orphans. In 2009 I worked with Grandmothers Against Poverty and AIDS in South Africa, which develops a support network for coping with HIV and AIDS impacts in broken communities. The grandmothers run income generation projects, psychosocial support groups, and programs for strengthening the identity of local youth through their Xhosa traditions. Recently, I worked with a community-based organization in Kenya to launch a project called Female Empowerment Through Football, which incorporates life skills training for girls into youth soccer clubs.
This September I began my Masters in Public Health in Developing Countries in London. I would like to use documentary photography to inform my public health research thesis, on the effectiveness of female-focused HIV prevention efforts, and to help inform public health policy and shift major HIV funding sources to programs that focus on the role of women.
