Alice Mann's 'Drummies' majorette series debuts in London solo show

South African photographer Alice Mann (b. 1991) presents her full series 'Drummies' for the first time at David Hill Gallery in London from September 20 to November 30, 2024. The exhibition includes previously unseen images from the project, which Mann developed over four years photographing girls in schools across Western Cape and Gauteng. The series captures the strength and pride of female drum majorette squads, mostly from low-income families in townships. Mann won the Taylor Weng Photographic Portrait Prize in 2018, and four of her prints were subsequently displayed at the National Portrait Gallery. Her work has been featured in The Guardian, The New York Times Magazine, Artsy, and National Geographic, and exhibited at Red Hook Labs, International Centre of Photography in New York, National Portrait Gallery, and Somerset House in London. Art critic Christine Eyenne noted the girls' confident gazes and postures. Mann describes the series as part of her ongoing exploration of femininity and empowerment in modern society, countering male, Eurocentric, and Westernized perspectives.