A drag queen stands at a website of violence: Lee-Ann Olwage’s greatest {photograph} | Photography

I have at all times been curious about gender and identification tales. In South Africa, we have now a powerful liberal structure on paper for queer rights, however the actuality on the streets – the hate crimes, the animosity within the office and in social settings – may be very totally different. I used to be inquisitive about the place folks might go not solely to really feel protected however to really feel celebrated for who they’re, and really feel really embraced. That led me to the drag pageant scene.

I might go to {photograph} pageants each weekend, and each Monday I might get messages from the folks I’d photographed asking me to ship the photographs – so I had lots of immediate suggestions on the work I used to be making. I used to be utilizing harsh lighting to play with the concept of masculine and female, to emphasize the distinction between the robust jawlines and the female personae. But there’s no another trustworthy than a drag queen, and really early on, somebody instructed me they actually didn’t like the image I’d taken of them.

It was laborious to listen to, however letting go of my ego I requested this particular person why. They mentioned it was as a result of they didn’t look lovely. I realised it was the tough lighting – how a photographer sees and thinks a narrative must be instructed is usually not the way in which folks see themselves, or how they need to be proven. I modified my method. And if I hadn’t had that knock to my ego, the work wouldn’t have turn out to be what it wanted to be.

Over the following 12 months and a half, making the work turned a dialog with the drag queens. I put it on the market that I wished to do a collaborative challenge. Belinda, who’s on this picture, got here to me and instructed me she was making use of for the Miss Drag South Africa pageant; a part of the competitors entails doing a challenge. The concept was to work with different drag artists and go to locations the place acts of violence had occurred, and to reclaim these locations. I instructed Belinda to consider who ought to inform this story – I wished her to think about rigorously if I used to be the correct particular person. Two weeks later, she got here again and mentioned she wished to work with me.

I used to be involved for the drag queens’ security, not solely whereas going to those websites of violence and making the pictures but in addition after, as a few of them lived within the townships the place the portraits can be made. I sat with it for some time. But one factor Belinda mentioned caught with me. She mentioned: “If we don’t go, if we don’t reclaim these spaces and make these pictures, then it’s like we don’t exist.”

The complete sequence was shot in 4 hours. We met at a petroleum station on the day, so the drag queens might prepare – everybody had particular concepts about what they wished to put on. We moved shortly and didn’t linger. I used to be undoubtedly nervous – it made me realise how these folks really feel every single day, you possibly can by no means totally calm down.

I photographed Belinda on the shisanyama – a group house the place ladies cook dinner and promote meat – in Khayelitsha, a township situated on the Cape Flats, close to Cape Town. It’s the center of the township, a gathering level with folks cooking meat on open fires. It was the top of the day and the sunshine was actually good – every thing got here collectively, with the woman within the background staring. If you look rigorously, you possibly can see my shadow – I really like that I’m part of it, that at all times makes me smile. Belinda has such a regal, enigmatic presence. There’s one thing about her – I hope it comes throughout within the picture.

Afterwards we organised a present at a group corridor in Khayelitsha. It was a small gathering however folks had been actually engaged, and got here to ask questions, and the artists shared about themselves. It’s superb to have world publicity for the problems we care about, however none of that’s as priceless as exhibiting the work within the house it was created.

Lee-Ann Olwage’s CV

Born: Durban, 1986
Trained: “I’m a self-trained photographer but studied film directing at AFDA film school in Cape Town.”
Influences: “My peers, life, the stories I work on, and other forms of storytelling: painting, music, weaving, textile art.”
High level: “Winning the World Press Photo award in 2020. It wasn’t so much the award but the fact that people celebrated a story I loved and my way of seeing the world. It gave me a new confidence that helped me take the next steps in my career.”
Low level: “Working with a journalist who was not respectful of the community we were in. I still resent myself for not speaking up about the situation sooner.”
Top tip: “Surround yourself with people doing what they love.”