“I have a name” is an incredible photo series showcasing everyday South Africans in the most phenomenal way. Proudly South African… one story at a time.
The stories are told by the incredible South Africans… raw & unedited. It’s a showcase of humanness, a reminder that behind every face, is a name.
Meet Terrence… a South African with a dream.
Terrence is holding a pile of pamphlets and trying to hand them out to motorist standing at the red lights on the intersection of William Nicol and Uranium Street. He gets mostly blank stares ahead, and because of the nip in the air, all the car windows are closed.
” I have a shack at Lion Park” Terrence says handing me a colourful glossy pamphlet.
” I work as a mechanic, but business is slow these days, and that is why I have to stand here and hand out pamphlets. I get paid R100 for the day to do this. I would much rather be fixing cars.
I got my passion for cars from my older brother. He had a car when I was younger, and I loved tinkering around with it. I finished school and then studied for 2 years to become a mechanic.
My nickname is ‘Mixer’ and I love watching soccer.
“Do you play? ” I ask him
“Play?” he laughs, ” Look at me! I’m one of the best…I’m almost professional ,”
“And where do you see yourself 10 years from now?”
” Hopefully in my own mechanics workshop, or in an engineering job…with a big black Range Rover like that one, ” he points as it drives past…” and the number plate will read MIXER GP
Terrence’s number is 0764762498 for anyone wanting a young mechanic for your workshop.
“I Have A Name” is a space where an anonymous photographer (we’ll call her J) is taking photos of everyday South Africans to showcase their incredible stories.
How do we bridge the great South African divides? Black vs white, young vs old, rich vs poor, men vs women? The divides that keep us from making eye contact with the beggar standing on the street corner, or the stranger in the lift.
CS Lewis said, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously – no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.”
Come with me on a journey…the stories and names behind the faces of everyday South Africans living their life in your neighbourhood, on your streets.
I think you will discover that we have a lot in common.
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