The British visual artist and photographer Laura Pannack has been named the winner of the inaugural Tom Stoddart Award for Excellence 2025. A collaboration between Gost Books and the Ian Parry Photojournalism Grant, the award supports photographers engaged in long-form documentary work. South Africa has one of the world’s highest levels of social inequality and a rapidly growing youth population; Pannack’s project Crossings looks at the journey to and from school and its physical and psychological challenges for young people The bus stop outside the church is where young people gather each day after school.
At times the area is brimming with more than 50 young people. Places where the boys in particular can walk are restricted. Gang culture sets invisible boundaries making it risky to venture on the wrong side of the road rd for Excellence/IPPG Crossings explores the complex environments students navigate; spaces where vulnerability, danger, friendship and freedom coexist.
The resulting book is dynamic and playful, bringing together analogue photography and a range of processes to examine and explore the formative experience of adolescence, and the ways in which place, relationships and memory shape who we become rd for Excellence/IPPG In South Africa, a country with one of the world’s highest levels of social inequality and a rapidly growing youth population, the daily journey to and from school can carry significant physical and psychological challenges for many young people rd for Excellence/IPPG Through workshops using lo-fi analogue photography, painting and creative writing, the project created an accessible space for young people to reflect on their experiences and their journeys through and with their communities each day. The images made in collaboration with the young people also form an important part of the book rd for Excellence/IPPG In this workshop with Lauren Theunissen they explored the journey to and from school. Young people were given prompts and asked to draw their answers.
For example, ‘What did you see on the way to school this morning?’ rd for Excellence/IPPG Moesheida wears a nightgown outside the Project Hope church youth club rd for Excellence/IPPG Ronaldo (centre) has a tight family unit. The children live at two addresses for their safety. Their mother relocated them to their auntie’s house (her sister) for most of the school week due to fear of them living in her area in Mitchells Plain.
The separation has been essential to keep the children safe. Ronaldo’s mother spends as much time as she can with them. Ronaldo transitioned at the age of 14.
In 2024 Ronaldo and her friend Thabbs were walking to school at about 8am and shots were randomly fired. They ran but their friend walking with them was too slow and got caught in the crossfire. She bled out in the classroom and died rd for Excellence/IPPG For the workshops, children used donated 35mm cameras.
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