From 2004 through 2006 I photographed in Khayelitsha, one of the many townships outside of Cape Town. I worked with Momtolo who has lived in her shack in "Site C" in the heart of the Khayelitsha for the last 20 years. She was—and continues to be—my guide, my eyes, and my friend. Despite her worsening cataracts, Momtolo would suggest images for us to make, pointing out good light, while walking up and down the same street with me again and again looking for the street vendors, mechanics, tavern owners, and children that we photographed the previous week.

Toward the end of my time in Cape Town we put together this exhibition of photographs of her family and her neighborhood. We hung it on the laundry line of her shack, which happens to be on a busy intersection. People crowded in to see what was going on—confused, excited, bewildered, and honored. It was the most rewarding thing I have done.

Momtolo, like all of her neighbors, lives on the edge, marginalized by apartheid and its legacy of poverty and unemployment. I began selling this work as a way to raise money for her family. But with the growing success of this online exhibition, my ambitions grew as well. The sale of these images now helps to fund a small, but dedicated, group of photographers from the townships. Iliso Labantu, as the group is called, means eye of the people. I work with Alistair Berg, a British photographer based in Cape Town. We hold workshops, gather donated equipment and organize trips for the photographers to various neighborhoods throughout the townships in order to continue documenting life on the edges. Many of them now make a living selling their work in tourist markets and by photographing in their neighborhoods for people who don't own a camera.

Please visit IlisoLabantu.org to see the beautiful work they are doing.

To purchase a photograph, or for more information, please contact me at: sue@suejaye.com.