On her bike, Aphiwe Goge is unstoppable. The cyclist speeds through the pump track with coolheaded strength and razor-sharp focus. She’s here to win. Flying past the other cyclists, Goge commands the course. And she’s only 13 years old. Goge was hooked on riding the moment her grandfather taught her to balance on a set of wheels. Taking her talent to a bike park, Goge discovered unprecedented freedom to boost her skills. Now, she’s breaking the barriers to cycling with South Africa’s first black female mountain biking team.
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Andrew Patterson wasn’t sure where the road would take him. He’d just been retrenched. Clutching the steering wheel in traffic, Patterson faced the mountain that loomed ahead. In that moment, he had an epiphany. The avid hiker realised he could use his unexpected spare time for a purpose. “I wanted to make sure I was making decisions based out of love and not fear,” Patterson says.
He resolved to climb Table Mountain every single day for a year to raise funds for three charities close to his heart.
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Even from the middle of South Africa, a young Hanli Prinsloo could hear the seaside calling her. Raised on a horse farm, she already had an unbridled love for the environment. But it’s at sea that she discovered how deep her passion was. “Every time I’m in the ocean, it makes me feel connected to myself, to nature, and to the people I share the oceans with,” Prinsloo says. She started freediving and soon broke over 11 national records. Being underwater opened her eyes to marine conservation. Now, Prinsloo’s focus is on changing the tides for kids who live near our coastlines.
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The clay horse towers over its creator. A life-sized artwork, it embodies the natural prowess of the galloping animal. Vincent Da Silva’s sculptures are testament to his deft handiwork. Though frozen in time, the statues have a movement to them. Unlike the smooth marble figures of ancient Greece, Da Silva’s art is cast in bronze and flecked with blemishes from his tools. With his textural monuments, the artist reflects a freethinking philosophy.
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Behind the boasts of drums, rows of straight-faced schoolchildren stand tall. This marching squad is in formation and they mean business. For Athrah Lakay, it’s a place of comfort beneath the tough veneer. In the face of uncertainty, the routine of the drill helps the 15-year-old pupil gain confidence in her next step.
Marching bands are well-loved within schools in the Mitchells Plain community. It’s a celebrated tradition in the Cape Flats, commemorated in the annual Kaapse Klopse festival. At Spine Road High School, Lakay and her schoolmates assemble every week to practise.
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Vanessa Martin’s heart shattered when she saw the stray dog outside her office. The creature was emaciated and alone. Martin couldn’t just stand by and began feeding her. But this puppy wasn’t the only one in need. The streets were filled with homeless dogs and cats. Martin started picking up strays on her way to work, hiding them in the toilet cubicles until she could take them home. But that wasn’t enough. After 21 years of working as an administrative clerk, Martin had a renewed sense of purpose. So she quit. “Now I’m doing what I was created to do: rescuing animals,” she says.
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Jean-marc Johannes designs his own rules. On his skateboard, he carves a playground out of the city of Cape Town. “No one can define my capabilities but me,” Johannes says. His attitude is his eternal win. But it comes with a background of crashes and falls – one that goes much deeper than failed tricks on a board. Johannes initially wanted to be an athlete. But traditional sports just didn’t give him enough space to move. So at the age of nine, Johannes turned to skateboarding and took control of his destiny.
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Roushanna Gray takes a bite of a delicate blossom. It’s not unusual to see her include buds, petals and leaves that she’s foraged in her meals. “In fynbos, there are so many different types of edible and medicinal species,” Gray says. South Africa’s biodiversity is as abundant as it is breathtaking. Centuries ago, local foliage served as people’s diets. Today, among artful food trends, indigenous blooms are returning to modern palates.
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Lebogang Mokwena only learnt to ride a bicycle at the age of 30. When she did, it changed her life. Her newfound skills opened up a world of freedom and accessibility. But many miss out on the chance, having never owned a bicycle. “Not everyone’s childhood is the same,” Mokwena says. So she’s made it her mission to level the playing field by offering mobility to others. It all begins with teaching people how to ride.
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See those stylish images on social media? They don’t portray the diversity of this world. As a fashion photographer, Justin Dingwall recognised a lack of inclusivity. But he had the power to take action. “I believe I have responsibility to change conversations,” Dingwall says. So he began teaming up with people who don’t fit the standard, people with stories to tell. His collaborations allow a person’s individuality to inform aesthetics. The result is a deconstruction not just of perceptions, but societal beliefs.
Dingwall seeks to bring deliberately ignored topics to the surface. “It is important to have a message within my work,” he says. When Thando Hopa approached him to do a shoot, Dingwall turned his camera to the narrow ideas of beauty.
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Listen up. You may have a hearing problem. But it takes less than two minutes to figure that out thanks to De Wet Swanepoel. He’s the inventor of a nifty phone application that detects difficulty hearing. It’s changing lives, particularly for the younger generation. “Children who don’t hear well can’t learn well and as a result, can’t perform in a school environment,” Swanepoel says. Without affordable healthcare, something as common as a slight hearing problem can go undetected and become a barrier to education. “It costs a fortune to have your hearing checked and I knew I had to do something,” Swanepoel says.
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Stiaan Scheepers starts his day doing what most kids fear – maths. Addition, subtraction, fractions and division are child’s play to him. Scheepers is a nine-year-old mathematical prodigy capable of crunching complex sums at exhilarating speeds. Numbers don’t intimidate Scheepers. Not when he’s faced far worse.
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