Creativity and positive focus and energy are for her the base and the ingredients for growth.
To develop, to grow, to have a richer live as a human being.
The Eastern Cape is a part of South Africa where most of the Xhosa people tribes lived and are still living. The Eastern Cape is rural and has some very remote areas. She was interested in finding some personal daily life stories of the young Xhosa children who live here. Therefore she visited a lot of villages as well several schools, the place to meet groups of children. Because it was almost midterm holidays and most of the exams and tests were already done, most of the schools didn’t have a proper teaching schedule anymore. Some teachers didn’t even show up anymore. And the kids were just hanging around.
Going to a (governmental) public school in South Africa is for free. Having a daily meal at school is also for free. What does cost money is the transport. And people cannot always afford that. The serie I AM SOUTH AFRICA reflects her stay in Eastern Cape and shows her focus. I AM SOUTH AFRICA has been co-produced with Photoreporter Festival St. Brieuc, France.
About Carla Kogelman
Carla Kogelman (NL, 1961) has worked in the theatre industry for 25 years. In December 2011 she graduated at the Foto Academie Amsterdam. She won five awards at the Zilveren Camera , the national ducth contest.She won the SO (Selection Of dutch photography) Awards 2013. With the series ICH BIN WALDVIERTEL she won first prize Observed Stories at World Press Photo 2014 , the Cortona on the Move 2014 Happiness Award. She was twice the winner of the Alfred Fried Photography Award.
In 1985 she finalised her study as social worker with children. After working in the theatre industry for almost 25 years as an independent producer it was time for a switch and so she started at the Foto Academie Amsterdam. Since her graduation she is fascinated by how children live, how they grow up.She is fascinated by the daily life. A small white and a big coloured family in a big city, a farmer’s family in a rural area. The situation of the children in her own back yard. The different dynamics and the social relations between each other.
In her work she captures the daily life of people, and focusses especially on children. Being around the same people for a long time, she becomes invisible. This gives her the opportunity to get a good insight into the lives of the subjects and to reach the real story behind what is observed superficially. Most fascinating to her is how the children in different circumstances interact with each other, how their bodies communicate, and how the relationships emerge and evolve.
She grew up in a big family myself and she might be reflecting on her own childhood while capturing the life of these children.As a social worker she was always interested in the creativity of a child. How they play, move, create, live. As a theatre producer she loved to travel the world, not being a tourist but working and networking with the global festivals and companies. She sold stories other people created. As a documentary photographer her camera gives access to different worlds again. And it gives her the possibility to create her own stories.She is interested in the daily life of the children and young people. In her documentary work she always likes to get close to people.
She is interested in developing a visual language with leaves room for fantasy and interpretation. she wants to show a world with no dead end, but with an open end, a story with hope and creativity. A human interest focus for optimism. Looking for cultural context and content. [Official Website]
