I took the first image from a bridge above the track; the girl in her immaculate school uniform – no uniform means no school – and the woman in traditional Sowetan dress crossing the railway line that divides their lives between the opportunities open to the few and the shackland that is Kliptown. The next two follow the girl as she makes her way alongsidethe track and thelifethat is enacted there every day. She then suddenly disappears from view. I saw her later in the day coming out of a shack, wearing a faded tracksuit and carrying the precious uniform on a hanger protected by a dry-cleaner’s plastic cover.
Acknowledgement: the photographs were first published in A JAR OF STICKLEBACKS.
This photograph somehow reminded me of a story that my father used to tell us. When he was a kid in Sunderland, he asked for football boots. My grandmother told him that he could either have shoes, or footie boots – but not both. Consequently, he spent the rest of his school year clomping in and out of classes – in football boots!
Thanks Howard. Your dad would know just how this girl felt. I can picture his story in my mind…
Real life. The photos capture the moment and the context.