2nd Place winner
A delicate balance
DESCRIPTION
In southern Ghana, women dominate the various food and textile markets. They work as traders with fixed stalls, or they are constantly on the move with their goods, travelling to different markets to buy or sell their wares. They are helped to carry their loads by the Kayayei, mainly young women from the Muslim north of Ghana. They work as head porters in the markets, especially in Accra and Kumasi.The scene in this photo shows two of these head porters in a market area in Accra. They are carrying heavy loads to and from their customers. The man in the orange vest is an official who charges a small fee to enter the market. The porter in the orange headscarf is waiting for the official to turn to her and take her money. The other Kayayoo, carrying a bowl of yam tubers, has already paid. The entry fee paid by the market vendors is used to keep the area clean. The coloured wall in the background belongs to a shop selling frozen fish and chicken.
AUTHOR
Regula Tschumi from Switzerland is a social anthropologist working as a freelance cultural mediator and photographer in the field of arts and museums. Her history with photography begun during her PhD research in Ghana. But only after completing her studies in 2013 she finally had enough time to dedicate herself more seriously to her photography. Although she has photographed in many parts of the world, she still returns to Ghana every year where she works on some long-term projects. Her documentary photographs about the funeral rituals in Ghana were shown in many museum exhibitions related to this topic, and published in books, international magazines and newspapers. Since 2018, Regula Tschumi has also taken part in various street photography exhibitions, including several shows with Street sans Frontières, Women Street Photographers, Siena International Photo Awards, Treviso Photographic Festival, Eyeshot open call and Xposure, to mention only a few.
