Homelands: Life on the edge of the South African dream - Tapa dura

HOMELANDS explores life in South Africa through the experiences of Donald Banda, who resides in an informal settlement in Pretoria. Photographs and first-person accounts reveal the complexities of social and economic inclusion in contemporary South Africa. They also speak to the universal human desire for belonging. As Donald says, "There is no place like home. But if home no longer feels like home, we are lost."

Pieter de Vos is an award-winning documentary photographer, engaged academic, and facilitator. He has a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Alberta as well as a MSc in Public Health. He is interested in questions of home, belonging, and identity. He has explored topics ranging from: the lived experiences of homeless individuals; to the community response to HIV in Canada and Haiti; to place-making in South Africa. He has enriched his practice by using participatory and arts-based methods to expand the possibilities for dialogue and collective action. His work in South Africa has been recognized by the News Photographers Association of Canada in the 2017 National Pictures of the Year Awards Competition. The photos are also winners in the photojournalism category of the PDN Photo Annual 2018. Additional award recognition was provided by the 2018 Prix de la Photographie, Paris (Px3), Tokyo International Photo Awards 2017 (TIFA), the 2018 Siena International Photo Awards and the 2018 IPA.