The Photographic Journal

Izangoma

Essay 90 • Nov 30th 2016

This is a short portrait series I shot in South Africa focusing on traditional healers, otherwise referred to as Sangomas or iNyanga. Western media might carelessly refer to them as ‘witch doctors’.

The reality in many African cities is that traditional cultural practices have become seamlessly fused with modern and contemporary lifestyles. Many of the healers I worked with are practicing Christians, all of them work modern jobs in major city centres.

I wanted to capture this eclectic fusion of modern and traditional as an authentic representation of contemporary African society not often shown or understood by Western media.

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Alice Mann

I am a 24 year old South African artist and photographer based in between London and South Africa.

I graduated from the Michaelis School of Fine Art with a BA in Fine Art Photography, and moved to London in 2014, where I interned for photographers including Broomber and Chanarin, and Gideon Mendel.

I reference my childhood in post-apartheid South Africa as a catalyst for my photographic work, which focuses on racial stereotyping and “othering” in contemporary society and the complex politics of representation involved. I interrogate issues surrounding these themes through formal portraiture.

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