Prize showcases the best of new African photography

The Contemporary African Photography (CAP) Prize showcases some of the finest emerging talent on the continent. Inzozi shares some of the work from photographers on the prize's 25-strong that hail from RwandAir destinations.

In the 13 years since its launch, the Contemporary African Photography (CAP) Prize has become a leading platform for the continent’s brightest talent behind the lens to showcase their work to a global audience. The competition seeks to challenge dominant narratives about Africa and to promote diverse representations of the continent. This year the panel of international judges has chosen a shortlist of 25, each in the running to be selected as one of the five winners whose work will then be exhibited at events across the world to raise the profile of African photography.

Nine of the shortlisted photographers come from RwandAir destinations. Inzozi shares more about them and their work.

Adedolapo Boluwatife

Instagram: @adedolapobuluwatife

Born in 1996 in Lagos, Nigeria. Lives in Lagos, Nigeria. Boluwatife collects waste and transforms it into art with the metaphorical results advocating for change in how the Nigerian city deals with its major plastics pollution problem. This unique approach addresses the issue and inspires a vision of a disaster-free environment.

Arnold Fokam

Instagram: @arnoldfokam

Born in 1996 in Kumba, Cameroon. Lives in Douala, Cameroon. Fokam’s latest collection of photographs, entitled Les Re-enchanteresses, engages a discourse around reincarnation, blending memories of the deceased with the realities of current urban life. These spirits, these souls we once cherished, are resurrected amid our daily lives.

Tshepiso Moropa

Instagram: @tshepisomoropaa

Born in 1995 in Pretoria, South Africa. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa. Moropa has called the work she submitted for the prize ‘Dineelwane’, which is the Setswana word for fairy tales. The images aim to bring traditional Setswana folktales – with their timeless wisdom, moral lessons, and magical elements – to life, creating a dialogue with the past and present and preserving South African cultural heritage.

Neec Nonso

Instagram: @neecnonso

Born in 1990 in Aguleri, Nigeria. Lives in Lagos, Nigeria. Nonso’s collection ‘Heads of State’ is a series of portraits augmented by virtual elements that act as a visceral condemnation of misguided authority figures. With the human subjects given animal heads Neec starkly conveys the dehumanising nature of their actions.

Cletus Nelson Nwadike

Instagram: @cletusphoto

Born in 1966 in Nigeria, Nigeria. Lives in Aneby, Sweden. Nwadike’s work is a tribute to his mother, who died in 2021 without seeing her four grandchildren in Sweden because she was denied a visa.

Xoliswa Ngwenya

Instagram: @xngwenya

Born in 1990 in Soweto, South Africa. Lives in Johannesburg, South Africa. Ngwenya grew up in the Soweto township, where he has witnessed an alarming surge in femicide and gender-based violence. His compassionate work seeks to unravel the pervasive influence of patriarchy in our lives and investigate potential contributors to such violence.

Kalenga Nkonge

Instagram: @bonkoti

Born in 1972 in Zambezi, Zambia. Lives in Lusaka, Zambia. Nkonge captures the vibrancy of life in Lusaka with his colourful images of barbershops, hair salons, makeshift restaurants, car washers, printing, and internet cafés. In addition to being a photographer, Nkonge is also a taxi driver, negotiating the city every day and sometimes stopping to photograph residents carrying out their day-to-day hustles.

Edward Prah

Instagram: @eddie_prah

When Prah stumbled upon an old family album with printed photographs, he hit upon the idea of using painting and digital photo editing to manipulate the images. His fake foxed, ripped, and spot-faded images combine the factual and fictional of the past and present.

Dione Roach

Instagram: @dioneroach

Born in 1989 in Poggibonsi, Italy. Lives in Douala, Cameroon. Roach’s collection, ‘The Escape Hatch’, is a series of portraits taken inside the Central Prison of Douala in Cameroon, where the artist has been working on a music and art project since 2018. The images were born out of Roach's conversations with some of the inmates they worked with. The work focuses particularly on their responses to the question: "If you could be free right now, where would you want to be?’ The artist painted the scenes of each answer and then photographed each subject using their painting as a backdrop, capturing them inside their imagined landscape.

Further information can be found at capprize.com.