Alice Mann photobook bangs the drum for South African girls
Alice Mann’s long-term photography project, Drummies, examines how the sport of drum majorettes empowers young women in South Africa. Via a Kickstarter campaign, the photographer hopes to transform the compelling series into a photobook
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

Since 2017, Cape Town-born, London-based photographer Alice Mann has been documenting the distinctive subculture surrounding all-female teams of drum majorettes in South Africa, known as ‘drummies’. This is a sport that palpably empowers those involved, in a society where women must confront myriad obstacles.
Via Kickstarter, Mann (who is also a Wallpaper* photographer) is now seeking support to compile this long-term project into a photobook – a compelling and intimate visual documentation of confidence, commitment and determination, and a stand against societal friction in South Africa.
Wakiesha Titus and Riley Van Harte, Cape Town, 2018
Mann shot the entire series on medium format film camera, which was not without its challenges. ‘The work to scan, retouch and organise everything was quite a task. I think at the end I had around 600 rolls of film,’ she says. ‘The administrative side of putting a body of work together is probably as important as the images, and it is a part of the process I place a lot of value on, but it is also not as enjoyable as making the images. I prefer the part where I can work and collaborate with people!’
The hardback book, designed by Stu Smith will feature a cloth-bound cover with foil blocking and will be published by Gost Books. Accompanying the images will be an essay by art historian, curator and writer Christine Eyene, whose research and curatorial practice focus on contemporary African and Diaspora arts, feminism and photography.
Mann’s Drummies series of photographs previously scooped the Grand Prix du Jury and the Wallpaper* New Generation Prize at the 2019 Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography, the LensCulture Emerging Talent Award, and the National Portrait Gallery’s Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize. But for Mann, being involved in Drummies was an accolade in itself. ‘Throughout the time I worked on this series, it was very important to me that the images were able to translate the confidence and pride of the young women involved in the teams, as well as their natural charisma and energy!’
Chloe Heydenrych, Paige Titus, Ashnique Paulse, Elizabeth Jordan and Chleo de Kock, Cape Town, 2018
Hillcrest Primary Majorettes, Grabouw, 2018
Tanique Williams, Cape Town 2018
Fairmont High Drum Majorettes, Cape Town, 2018
Helderkruin Primary Drum Majorettes, Johannesburg, 2018
INFORMATION
Drummies, a photobook, is available to pre-order via Kickstarter, and is scheduled to be printed in autumn 2021, kickstarter.com
Harriet Lloyd-Smith is the Arts Editor of Wallpaper*, responsible for the art pages across digital and print, including profiles, exhibition reviews, and contemporary art collaborations. She started at Wallpaper* in 2017 and has written for leading contemporary art publications, auction houses and arts charities, and lectured on review writing and art journalism. When she’s not writing about art, she’s making her own.
-
Colour Clash is a bold compendium of dazzling supergraphics and logos that pop
Polychromatic perversity in graphic design is celebrated in Colour Clash, a monograph that looks at the new wave of visual expression
By Jonathan Bell • Published
-
Beacon House is the contemporary rebirth of a midcentury San Francisco home
Beacon House by Edmonds + Lee Architecture is a renovation project that sensitively brings a modernist San Francisco home into the 21st century
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Supergraphics pioneer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon: ‘Sure, make things big – anything is possible'
94-year-old graphic designer Barbara Stauffacher Solomon talks radical typography, motherhood, and her cool welcome for St Moritz
By Jessica Klingelfuss • Published
-
The best photography books for your coffee table
Flick through, mull over and deep-dive into the best photography books on the market, from our shelves to you this Christmas 2022
By Sophie Gladstone • Published
-
Beauty and decay: inside America’s derelict movie theatres
In a new photobook, photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre capture a bygone era of entertainment through decaying American movie theatres
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Last updated
-
David Luraschi’s sensual ode to human intimacy
In his hypnotic new book, Ensemble, photographer David Luraschi explores human intimacy and untamed nature
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Last updated
-
William Kentridge turns Moleskine notebook into art
South African artist William Kentridge is the latest contributor to the Moleskine Foundation Collection, transforming a notebook into a visual parable brimming with ‘thoughts accepted and abandoned’
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Last updated
-
Photographer Jo Ractliffe on expanding the frame of South African documentary
‘Photographs have their own force; they push back at us’
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Last updated
-
Tyler Mitchell’s first monograph is an ode to Black freedom
Sensuous images of carefree Black youth in I Can Make You Feel Good articulate the American photographer’s vision of utopia
By Camille Okhio • Last updated
-
Continental shift: tracing Africa’s urban transformation through photography
Africa’s changing landscapes are beautifully captured by a new generation of home-grown photographers, introduced here and in a new book by Ekow Eshun
By Ekow Eshun • Last updated
-
Photographer Akasha Rabut embraces New Orleans' elusive subcultures
Death Magick Abundance captures the spirit of this vibrant city of the American South through its people
By Oyin Akande • Last updated