I have been photographing women street hairstylists in Johannesburg since 2012. I have documented the streets of Mafikeng and Maputo where they operate their businesses. Amidst the hustle and bustle of Johannesburg, groups of women hairstylists can be seen and heard calling out “woza sisi”, “woza uzobona”, “woza nice”. Each woman has her own open-air mobile studio comprising of a chair and advertising boards displaying the different hairstyles they offer. My ongoing project, Woza Sisi, aims to explore how women hairstylists navigate and shape their entrepreneurial landscape.

After years of documenting the inner city, I wanted to explore an experimental approach that would allow for an unpredictable and playful representation of the city. To achieve this, I had to move away from the traditional documentary photography style that I was accustomed to. My goal is to showcase that the city is not composed of one image, but is multifaceted.