Julia Gunther on the Proud Women of Africa

Ruth Jones, second in command and flutist in the Manenberg Church Brigade, Anglican Church, Manenberg township, Cape Town, South Africa, 2012. © Julia Gunther

Tenor drummer in the Manenberg Church Brigade, Anglican Church, Manenberg township, Cape Town, South Africa, 2012. © Julia Gunther

Dalitso Ndipo. (19), bowler/batsman, Malawian Under 19 Women’s Cricket Team, during a training session on the pitch at St. Andrew’s International High School, Blantyre, Malawi, 2016. © Julia Gunther

Terra. Cape Town, South Africa, 2012. Rainbow Girls is a photographic documentary series about lesbian women in South African townships. © Julia Gunther

Julia Gunther’s work focuses on the many roles women living in sub-Saharan Africa play in social justice.

For the ongoing series “Proud Women of Africa” Gunther documents female activists and their personal or public struggles to enact social change in their communities. Some women campaign, while others encourage action by setting an example. Most, are ordinary women fighting to make a difference away from the limelight.

Images from four projects included in the series are on view through October 26 at Mirko Mayer Gallery in Cologne, Germany.

“The Black Mambas” documents an almost exclusively female anti-poaching unit (32 and one man) that operates unarmed in Balule Nature Reserve in north-eastern South Africa. The recipient of the 2018 first place prize in the “People” category of PDN’s Storytellers competition, the project combines portraiture and reportage to capture the Black Mambas’ daily foot patrols to keep the reserve’s animals – rhinos, elephants, lions, kudu and impala – safe.

A project shot in Malawi called “Malawi Eleven,” highlights the country’s first-ever female national cricket team. Most of the girls on the team come from low-income families earning less than two dollars per day. The Malawian Under 19 Women’s Cricket Team is not only a first in a country where women remain disadvantaged in almost all aspects of daily life, but it is also an attempt to change a quintessential gentlemen’s game into a truly inclusive sport.

“Rainbow Girls” is about lesbian women in South African townships. The Rainbow Nation, as South Africa is unofficially known, is home to high levels of violence, including corrective rape, against LGBTQI communities. The degree of sexual freedom offered – or not offered – is often based on the color of your skin, and to which social group you belong.

Another project shot in South Africa, “Ruthy Goes to Church,” features Ruth Jones. A life-long resident of Manenberg, which is notorious for its gangs, Jones is determined to shield they youth from the violence that deeply affected her own childhood. In her quest, Ruthy joined the church brigade. Every Sunday the brigade, which helps keeps many children off the streets, marches through Manenberg playing music.

All in all, the women are working hard to change the world around them.

Proud Women of Africa
By Julia Gunther
Mirko Mayer Gallery
Cologne, Germany
Through October 26, 2018