Through My Eyes

‘Through My Eyes’ is a photographic project co-displayed by The Photographic Angle and Ikamva Youth Project in South Africa.

Ikamva Youth is a township-based non-profit organisation (established in 2003 and formally registered in 2004) with branches in three provinces in South Africa currently operating from Khayelitsha, Nyanga and Masiphumelele in the Western Cape, Ivory Park in Gauteng, and Cato Crest in KwaZulu-Natal.

South African youth face many obstacles that perpetuate disadvantage. Most township schools produce learners whose academic performance is below grade level. Poor matric results and low awareness of post-school opportunities lead to high numbers of unemployed youth (estimated at over 60% in Khayelitsha). Most learners in township schools do not receive the skills development opportunities afforded their more privileged counterparts in the suburbs, including computer literacy and extra-mural activities. In addition to the difficulties that living in poverty and receiving a sub-standard education brings, many township youths are infected and/or affected by HIV/AIDS.

Through my Eyes is a project through which the youth of Khayelitsha, South Africa have visually depicted their everyday lives.

Photography questions many perceptions of reality, it informs us and empowers us to inform. Through this exhibition The Photographic Angle aims to inform and educate the public in the wider use of photography not simply as a means of recording that which we believe to be of importance but as a medium through which, if empowered, others can inform us.