Wata Na Life

Wata Na Life (Krio for ‘Water is Life’), is a phrase I heard time and again in Sierra Leone, a country where water is very much a currency. Commissioned by Wateraid and British Journal of Photography, I spent three months in the country of my heritage exploring the link between water and our changing climate. What I found were communities adapting as best they could to the fall-out from a climate-exacerbated water crisis, amidst corruption and lack of governmental planning. The project is a marked rejection of the “dehumanising” way developing African nations have historically been portrayed by Western media — I counter tropes of “poverty porn” with vibrant collage; celebrating the essence and identities of the people and places of Sierra Leone, blending each location's scenery, portraits, and objects I photographed to form a more authentic representation than I felt any single photo could convey. I want Sierra Leoneans to look at this work and feel proud. That's the most important thing.

Having also photographed another environmental issue (Coastal Erosion) affecting the West African Coast in my series “C’est Pas Fini” (It’s Not over) I would hope to win the Prix Virginia so that I may continue to highlight how the effects of Global Warming are affecting West African countries in various ways.