Alice Mann’s never-before-seen portraits of South Africa’s teen ‘drummies’

The girls stand alert and attentive, their postures absolutely correct. Once they don their uniforms – resplendent dresses in ultraviolet and fuschia with a matching busby hat, white leather gloves and boots – they transform into superheroes.

They are drum majorettes. They may look cute but don’t get it twisted; these girls are tough. They already know that being a woman in this world is no easy feat. They already know how hard they will have to fight to keep their tenderness.

In her series Drummies, South African photographer Alice Mann celebrates the undeniable power that emanates from the young women who participate in the sport. Mann, who grew up in Cape Town, spent four years documenting drum majorette teams in Western Cape and Gauteng. Although enrollment in the sport has declined since its peak in the 80s, it remains a vital source of empowerment and community where it is still practised. 

I spoke with Mann as she made the final preparations for a new exhibition of Drummies at London’s David Hill Gallery, on view now until 30 November. The show features 19 photographs, many of which have never been seen. The exhibition also marks the first time Mann’s Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize-winning series will be shown in the UK.

How did this exhibition come about? 

Alice Mann: It was really by good chance. I met David last year when I was in London. A friend of mine was showing at the gallery and had a limited edition book that I had been unable to find anywhere. He posted that there was one left at David’s gallery. I messaged him and said, ‘Please, please keep this book for me‘. I went to meet him and got the book, and we had a really lovely conversation about photography.  A month or so later, [David] asked if I’d be interested in showing. He had ideas for [how] to show the work in a new way. It happened very organically from there.

What narrative did you want to tell with the show? 

Alice Mann: Essentially continuing as before, highlighting the pride and confidence these young women have and looking at the way their sense of self is reinforced through community. 

[Drummies] was done on hundreds of rolls of film. I’ve got these really thick booklets of all of the negatives. It feels like a shame that so many of them haven’t been seen before. Being able to make physical prints of some of these newer images and look back [on] the archive felt really special. In terms of the girls in the images, we [focused on] some of the older girls who have a bit more energy and attitude. They’re more mature. There’s that tension when you become a teenager. 

I saw the picture of the uniforms and it grabbed me. I was intrigued by the context of the whole thing. I did have a larger interest in the power that dressing up has and the performance of identity – Alice Mann

How did you get involved with the drumming community?

Alice Mann: I saw this newspaper headline about a noise complaint that had been made about this team of drum majorettes by the neighbours of the school. I remember thinking, ‘That’s odd. It’s children and you live next to school. It’s strange to campaign’. Then I saw the picture of the uniforms and it grabbed me. I was intrigued by the context of the whole thing. I did have a larger interest in the power that dressing up has and the performance of identity.

I met the girls and then I went back and did some portraits with them. They were very simple, classical portraits. I used a plain backdrop. The images were beautiful but I felt like I hadn’t done justice to the people in the images. Maybe six months later, I won a grant called the Joan Wakelin Award for another project. I thought, ‘let me just try and revisit this idea of the drum majorettes’, because it had been in my head. I contacted another school and went to visit them. I just played around with the digital camera with the girls. The next time I brought back prints and they started to feel excited about what was happening. Then I visited and we actually started taking images. 

A lot of those images that we made on the first day are some of the [most] important ones in the series. I realised very quickly that I had to step back and concentrate on trying to make space for them so that they felt comfortable to tell me exactly what they wanted. The vision they had for themselves was really beautiful. They were so playful, so confident. I noticed as soon as they had changed from their school uniform into their drum majorettes outfits their body language changed. I worked very hard to try and show their world as they saw it. 

I’m curious about your decision to shoot on film. Is that something that you always do? 

Alice Mann: I worked for a while with a large 4 x 5 camera. It was very clunky, difficult and expensive. The point of the exercise was to learn to slow down and take note of all the little things. It slows me down. It's much more meditative and makes me concentrate, which is a really important part of why I’ve tried to work on film.

Are there any particular images you're excited for people to see?

Alice Mann: One we had to get re-scanned and start from the beginning. It’s of a young woman in a changing room. Everybody’s dressed. She’s having this moment in thought in the middle of the room and glowing in her sequined uniform. The competition days are so crazy for these young women. There’s a lot of pressure and excitement. 

There’s another image, again one that hasn’t really been shown. It’s of all the girls’ little boots lined up next to each other. You can see the lines on the shoes where they’ve been practising. It’s very simple, but I love this image.

Were there any photographers you referenced while working on Drummies?

Alice Mann: Rineke Dijkstra, the Dutch portraitist. Her focus on women, youth, people in the state of transition, and also ordinary people was always something I was really interested in. I really loved some of the West African studio portraitists like Seydou Keïta and Malik Sidibé. My work is very different, but that format of working, the carte de visite – somebody going and paying a studio portraitist and then creating an image that was quite constructed but showed your family and friends how you were – I tried to apply in my photography. I tried to work in moments that people might want framed or that might show them in a particular light.

What do you hope people take away from the show and what impact do you hope it’ll have?

Alice Mann: Today’s society is still a very challenging place for women to exist. To be able to celebrate young women as strong and confident and make space for themselves is as important as ever. I always want to feel like things have changed, but there’s still a lot that needs to happen. It’s very important that we celebrate young women and the youth. A lot of my work is about the potential and optimism young people have. If this can be harnessed, how much good can happen? I think that’s a really important element.

Lastly, as a young South African photographer, I want to create images of South Africans that show an alternate view to pre-existing stereotypes. A lot of people have ideas that do not reflect the reality of people living there. I don’t want to take away from the harsh reality that is life for many South Africans and the fact that our country has a very complicated and terrible history. That’s still very relevant. But at the same time, people there have an optimism and power, and that’s something that I still feel that needs to be shared.

Drummies is on view at London’s David Hill Gallery until November 30