CORONATION OF THE KIN

CORONATION OF THE KIN is a portrait-editorial designed to interrogate competing concepts of identity and togetherness within the construct of the African family unit. Its title reveals the intimacy and value the concept of "family" holds widely across the continent, likening the belonging to and creation of family to that of ascending into a space of royalty. It is important--again--to note that while family holds a multitude of variations, each maintain one persistent truth: kinship determines status.

It was inspired by a myriad of personal experiences as well as close cultural observations. Thematically, it focuses on the tradition and institution of marriage in a manner that addresses the disproportionate social positioning of women in African culture, the intimate connectivity of identity present in an inherently collectivist culture, and how both interact with defying and upholding internalisation of socially-prescribed scripts for performative masculinity and femininity with an intimate look at child-bearing as a testament to both.