“It is important to me that these images can communicate the pride, confidence and sense of empowerment these young women have achieved through identifying as ‘Drummies’.”
—Alice Mann
From 2017 to 2020, South African artist Alice Mann (b.1991) photographed the aspirational, all-female teams of her homeland's drum majorettes, affectionately known as ‘Drummies’. Perfectly capturing the spirit of this unique sport, the present work represents one of the first teams that Mann worked with at Dr Van Der Ross Primary School in Cape Town. ‘I was struck by how confident and self-assured the girls were,’ recalls Mann, ‘and how they instructed me on how they wanted me to make the portraits.’ Here, we see a moment of pure joy as the girls dance together in their white-heeled boots and matching silver-sequined uniforms, complemented by their fluffy, colourful busbies. In her series Drummies, Mann ‘challenges the view of young South African women as disempowered victims’ by expressing the pride, determination and empowerment of these young female athletes. Mann has received numerous awards, notably the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize for this series in 2018. Drummies has been widely exhibited, most recently at the Kunsthal Rotterdam, and is the subject of her first monograph, published in 2021. Another print from the edition is held in the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection.