Ugandan-born, Nairobi-based photographer Sarah Waiswa recently won the Recontres d’Arles 2016 Discovery Award for her photography project: “ Stranger in Familiar Land.”
The documentary and portrait photographer clinched the competitive and prestigious prize in Arles, France. Ethiopian photographer and contemporary artist Aida Muluneh presented Waiswa with the prize for her work.
“[Stranger in Familiar Land] groups together various portraits of an albino woman set against the backdrop of the Kibera slums, which are a metaphor for my turbulent vision of the outside world. This series illustrates the life of an albino who is forced to face challenges emanating from both the sun and society,” Waiswa says in her project statement.
Speaking on the photographer’s offering, Muluneh says in an official statement:
“Sarah’s approach to photography is one of the curious gaze that reflects the complexities of her surroundings and of a continent that is still captured by others through a lens which perpetuates clichés.”
Have a look at Waiswa's "Stranger in a Familiar Land" below:
The summer photography festival started in 1970 by Arles photographer Lucien Clergue, and the Discovery Award is given to a photographer or an artists using photography whose work has recently been discovered or deserves to be.
