Yassmin Forte wins Contemporary African Photography Prize
Yassmin Forte was born in Quelimane, Zambezia, in 1980 and has lived in Maputo since 1986. The prize-winning work, entitled “This is a story about my family”, consists of a journey to her roots, delving into family archives, images and photographs that shed light on the effects of colonialism and migration throughout the history of her family and the African people.
With this project, Yassmin explains that she sought to “investigate how Africans have become the result of mixtures, migrations and colonization”, while also uncovering her own identity. To accomplish this, the technique used was collage, juxtaposing old family images with scenes from modern and current Mozambique, in an oscillating combination between the past and the present.
Throughout her career, the photographer has taken part in two residencies supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, within the scope of artistic internationalization: Catchupa Factory, which aimed to stimulate the international recognition and visibility of artistic work in photography and encourage the mobility of new photographers in Mindelo, Cape Verde, in 2018; and Upcycles, in 2021, which focused on the reuse of audiovisual archives through the creation of works of art in several artistic disciplines, in Maputo, Mozambique.
The CAP Prize is the international Prize for Contemporary African Photography awarded annually since 2012 to photographers whose works were created on the African continent, or which engage with the African diaspora. It aims to provide a platform for young photographers so that they can present their work to an international audience, thereby challenging the usual narratives about Africa and promoting more diverse representations of the continent.
In addition to Yassmin, the winners of this edition of the Prize are Nadia Ettwein (South Africa), Maheder Haileselassie (Ethiopia), Carlos Idun-Tawiah (Ghana) and Léonard Pongo (Democratic Republic of Congo).
Through its Partnerships with Africa programme, the Gulbenkian Foundation supports the internationalization and professionalization of artists from the PALOP countries by promoting artist mobility and supporting artistic residencies.
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