2nd Place, "How To Get Home - South Africa's 12th Language" by Patricia Kühfuss

Over twenty years since the end of Apartheid, history still echoes through South Africa, affecting the daily lives of many people. Today in Johannesburg, many black people have to travel up to 40 km every day to get to jobs in town, after their grandparents were moved out to townships like Soweto to create an all-white city centre. With public infrastructure like Metrorail buckling under the volume of passengers and crime, private minibus taxis have become a booming industry.

This series of staged photographs explores the unique hand signs used in Johannesburg to hail a taxi going in the right direction, and which are also known as ‘South Africa’s 12th language’. Showing the signs in everyday Soweto situations not only tells the story of how to get home in Johannesburg, but also shows what this home looks like.