Aïssatou Lamarana
A series of portraits of Aïssatou Lamarana Diallo, a 13 year-old girl with whom I share a hometown: a village in the center of Guinea named Tolo. It was commissioned by the British Journal of Photography and the Malala Fund.
In late 2021 thanks to a commission from the British Journal of Photography and the Malala Fund I had the opportunity to showcase Aissatou as she was about to start secondary school. With that project I wanted to give a window into what it is like to be a girl from a rural area determined to continue her education.
The result was a mix of my images and collages that incorporated polaroids taken by Aissatou. They helped reinforce that even though access to education can be challenging for a girl in her environment, where the transition to secondary school is often unlikely, she remains a teenager who isn’t burdened by her circumstances and instead hopeful about her future.