Terminus by Moira Rajoanary
“I grew up in a country where creativity is not valued, and the pursuit of artistic careers is not encouraged,” Miora Rajoanary told Insight, the Washington Post newspaper’s photography blog earlier this year. She was talking about her life in Madagascar, a country she left for Joburg, South Africa, at age 29 in 2013.
It was after this move that she discovered and pursued her passion for photography. In 2016, Rajaonary spent time speaking to and photographing the day-to-day lives of several migrants in Yeoville, a formerly middle-class neighborhood of Joburg that, following the arrival of democracy in the 90s, has become one of the city’s immigrant hubs. The new arrivals have changed the tone of the area, and in the process, it has gained notoriety. This has been fuelled by the decline of the many art deco and other classic architectural apartment buildings and general infrastructure in the area. Rajaonary’s photo series, titled Terminus, rejects this narrative and instead captures and shows a vibrant neighbourhood whose residents are involved in the ordinary, everyday struggle to make a life.
