In the wake of South Africa’s fight against what has now been labelled ‘the real pandemic’- Gender Based Violence (GBV), citizens have stood up in numbers to lend their voices to this struggle. Among these citizens, two photographers from Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga have used their platforms to create a visual story book in support of this cause.
Puseletso Malatjie, of Graniteforce99 photography, and his associate Pholosho Mokome, of Q37 Photography, decided that as young men of this country, they have an obligation to use their art to aid the fight against GBV.
They believe that photography plays a huge role in advocating for and addressing social ills. Puseletso recalls reading an article about the gruesome murder of Tshegofatso Pule (rest her soul), and the impact that it had on him. He says, “I was so hurt by this story that I decided to do a gender based violence photoshoot that will raise awareness, and shed light on the struggle that women are going through every day.” He made the decision to collaborate with his fellow photographer to amplify this message.
Pholosho adds that images deliver a message to people (especially youth on social media) in ways that words cannot. “The concept of the photoshoot was ‘women abuse’ and we chose the angle of people supporting each other because we believe that the strength of two is better than the strength of one. When people support each other, they gain more strength with which to get up, speak out, seek help or extend their help to others”, he says. He also states that as men, they do not feel comfortable about the statistics of GBV and the astonishing rates at which the numbers are rising, they can relate these struggles to the women in their own lives – it could be one of their sisters, cousins or female friends that become victims of this abuse- and therefore they will continue to take a stand, support women and deliver this message to the public.
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As young creatives, these photographers have contributed their artistic innovations throughout their respective journeys within photography. Puseletso has been capturing images that range from artistic photoshoots to events including matric dances, parties and graduations. However, what really captured him was the beauty of nature, which he also gives life to through his lens. For Pholosho, the love for photography started in high school when he discovered the ‘focus’ feature on smartphones. He recalls, “I used to borrow my friend’s phone and head out into the bushes to take pictures. Since then, I have become unstoppable” He went on to purchase his first camera in 2016, gather more knowledge on the dynamics of photography and finally find his place within the sphere of art photography and creative shoots.
On the 20th June 2020, they released part 1 of their storybook. These images depict a young woman in the woods with a man assaulting her just before she is spotted by two other young ladies who come to her aid and stop the assault. Shortly after, the perpetrator can be seen attempting to atone for his actions, raising the question of what it really means to rehabilitate abusers and addressing the concept of ‘forgiveness’ under this context.
The photographers give credit to their actors and contributors Kgeto Thibela, Kgahlisho Maunye, Nqobile, Chairman Thibela and IanEcho films, who were all just as eager to play a part in portraying and delivering the overall point of this project.
Watch Part 1 of the series here
Part 2 of this series was released on the 26th of June and it depicts a young woman casually walking past a man in the woods, who lusts over her and shortly after, attacks her. She is seen in distress, attempting to protect herself from the weapon being used to threaten her when another young man hunting nearby sees her in danger and comes to her rescue. This segment intends to encourage more men to be protectors of women, instead of abusers.
Watch Part 2 of the series here
Lastly, on 28th June 2020 part 3 of the series was released. This part shows a young woman by the river seeking serenity, she is shortly joined by her ‘husband’ who has been abusing her. Upon finding her, he immediately attacks and almost drowns her in the water. The young lady loses consciousness and washes up on the riverbank. When she regains her consciousness, she decides to fight back and can be seen beating him to a pulp. This segment highlights the issue of self-defence and alludes to the complicated context-specific criteria related to the justice system protecting the victims of abuse who may have killed the perpetrator in self-defence. The photographers’, through their caption, state that they believe women should fight back. However controversial this may be, they state “may he (the criminal) never choose you, but if he does, surprise him”.