Inspiring local stories featured on 'Humans of New York'
Founder of the Humans of New York photo blog Brandon Stanton is in Johannesburg, ready to share our stories with the world.
Photographer Brandon Stanton founded his photo blog Humans of New York in 2010, using simple portraits and short profiles to tell the poignant stories of New York's people. In the years since, Brandon's photos have garnered a large following worldwide, with over eight million people tuning in for updates on Instagram.
Brandon has travelled to South Asia and is now turning his lens on Africa. After a turn in Nigeria and Rwanda, where his stories of the lives of refugees had people calling for Brandon to be awarded a Nobel Prize, the photographer has arrived in South Africa. His stories from Johannesburg have sparked a new conversation about what life in our country is really like.
The story of a single mother who did not hesitate to step in and raise her niece after her own mother passed away highlights the importance of strong family bonds in South Africa. The young mother tells Brandon: "So I’m raising both my daughter and my niece. In our culture, it’s an automatic. It just kicks in. She belongs to me now."
A man originally from Sudan shared some tips about creating your own idea of happiness and holding onto it: "I don’t have a partner, but I have plenty of great friends. I don’t have children, but I’m a lovely uncle. I don’t take any medicine. I sleep well. I can walk around. I don’t know what to say. Every time I think about it, I conclude that I’m happy. I wake up smiling."
One man, who is originally from Mozambique, spoke about his experience of being a foreigner in the country trying to keep his small family together: "The healthcare is much better in this country. It’s too early for them to go back home because the child was born premature, but I’ll feel safer when they’re gone. It’s too dangerous for them here. South Africa is a good place to work, but they don’t like us being here so much."
Brandon's portraits reveal the inner lives of ordinary people who no one would think to pay any special attention to; the short profiles tell the stories of the people who keep the cities Brandon visits pulsing.
South Africa's feature on the photo blog comes three years after a local photographer, inspired by Brandon's work, started their own "Humans of South Africa" series on thesouthafrican.com.