LONDON.- Saatchi Gallery is presenting the work of award-winning portrait and social documentary photographer Aneesa Dawoojee as part of its major programme of winter exhibitions. Open to the public from 5 November 2024 – 5 January 2025, March of the Hummingbirds is a compassionate and considered project that documents the rich histories and cultures of the Caribbean, along with Mauritius, whose histories are closely connected. This body of work stems from Dawoojee’s desire to show the power of community spirit and how cultures can crossover through shared values and acts of kindness.
Dawoojee’s strong belief in multiculturalism comes from her Trinidadian and Mauritian parentage. Places where African, Indian, Syrian, Chinese and European people could all be together in one place without judgement. Her home in South London is a similar meeting point of migrant communities who are creating their own fusion of British culture, where everyone has a place.
This project is in memory of all the elders whose ordinary lives were not reflected in textbooks. Inspired by her mother’s story, and extensive time spent in the Caribbean, Dawoojee has been moved to explore the deeper links between the West Indies and the UK, through themes of inter-race relations, trade, indenture, faith, love and feminism.
While she believes that there is no migrant story that comes without some painful recollections, Dawoojee’s photographs emphasises the importance in telling these histories by those who lived them. By sharing each story, she hopes to reduce racial tensions and divisions within modern Britain and to display the power in community.
Dawoojee comments: “My hope is to one day have all this work go into every secondary school in the UK to compliment migrant history, as an alternative way of learning about one another, to encourage empathy, trust and understanding.”
Aneesa Dawoojee is a multi-award-winning portrait and social-documentary photographer from South London. Her images aim to break down stereotypes and celebrate the ordinary people and communities surrounding her. Dawoojee is an associate lecturer at Northampton University and is a fellow at the Royal Photographic Society. She is the recipient of the RPS Solo International Photography Exhibition 163 Award (2022), and has been featured in Forbes Woman Africa, BBC and the British Journal of Photography's Portrait of Humanity for three consecutive years since 2021. Her approach to visual communication has culminated in the touring exhibition Only Human, most recently displayed at the Royal Albert Hall, London (2024).
Dawoojee was most recently awarded the ‘Power of Photography Award’ in 2023 by AP magazine for “an outstanding body of work that shines a light on important issues, challenging perceptions and changing the way we see the world” – AP Magazine.
