Gianluigi Guercia is one of the 25 photographers shortlisted for the 2020 CAP Prize for Contemporary African Photography.
His motivation:
It crosses different neighborhoods and areas. All of them are different: socially, racially, and economically.
There is a Voortrekker road in almost every city or village in South Africa, keeping alive the memory of the Voortrekkers that embarked in the Great Trek, a movement of Dutch-speaking settlers who searched for land they could call their own, independent of British rule in the interior of South Africa. Far from being the peaceful and God-fearing process, the Great Trek also caused a tremendous social upheaval within the region.
The Voortrekker Road in Cape Town is almost 16 km long and all its different parts become a mirror of the complexity of the city and the country. Some areas have been gentrified, others remain in decay.
The road, as with the country, is stuck between past and present, between the middle and working class, between whites and blacks, South Africans and immigrants. Photography becomes the ultimate witness of all this. It becomes a document and memory of these changes.
The 5 winning projects will be announced on 20 September 2020 at the Photo Basel International Art Fair.
The call for entries for next year's CAP Prize.
Instagram @capprize
