The South African photographer Tshepiso Mazibuko belongs to the ‘born free’ generation, South Africans born after apartheid, with the hopes and promises of a more equal society. The reality for many Black South Africans, however, is still extremely difficult in a society riddled with inequalities and injustice.

Mazibuko trained in photography at the Market Photo Workshop, the institution set up by David Goldblatt that has since produced many of the country’s leading international names in the medium of photography. It was there that Mazibuko found her voice and decided she needed to document her own reality, as she saw it – her series of photographs titled ‘Ho tshepa ntshepedi ya bontshepe’, a proverb meaning ‘to believe in something that will never happen’, focuses on young black people, ‘born frees’ who like her live in the township of Thokoza, around thirty kilometres from Johannesburg – whose meaning in English is ‘place of peace’. Thokoza historically was established as a black township for labourers, with poor living conditions persisting to today. In the lead up to the 1994 elections, Mazibuko saw violent clashes.

Mazibuko deals with life in the township today, as it appears to her and her generation. Despite the obvious and suggested hardships in her photographs, the faces of children and young people she portrays are determined and proud. They persevere because no matter their circumstances, there is still a sense of hope and change that may yet make good on the born free promise.

Last week, Tshepiso Mazibuko was named the winner of the 2024 Madame Figaro Photo Prize and is the recipient of the Louis Roederer Foundation 2024 Discovery People’s Choice Award. Her series Ho tshepa ntshepedi ya bontshepe (To Believe in something that will never happen) is on view at the Louis Roederer Foundation 2024 Discovery Award exhibition, curated by Audrey Illouz, at Les Recontres D’Arles (until September 29, 2024).

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