Mozambican photographer Yassin Forte is among the five winners of the CAP
Prize, an international award for Contemporary African Photography 2023, with
the work entitled “this is a story about my family”, with photographic collage.
The photographer takes a journey to her roots to reflect on the effects of
colonialism and migration on her family history (as can be seen in the image of
several families in Mozambique).
Utilising family archives and their images, the photograph traverses the strands
of family, migration and the history of Africans.
“I try to investigate how Africans have become as a result of mixtures,
migrations and colonisations, mixed histories and repeated patterns and thus
unravel my own African identity,” she explains.
About the technique used, photographic collage, Yassmin Forte who was born in
Quelimane in 1980, justifies that it is to emphasise history “sometimes family
images are superimposed on scenes of modern and remembered Mozambique,
juxtaposing past and present. I used collage to construct a past and the
perception of my own identity.”
The CAP Prize has become the world’s leading platform for exhibiting
Contemporary African Photography, which allows photographers to showcase
their work to a global audience. The competition seeks to challenge the
dominant narratives about Africa and promote diverse and authentic
representations of the continent and its people.
