ALTER GOGO

Football has captured the heart of Africans.

It is the game that knows no boundaries of age, gender or status. It is often said as Africa’s unifying game.

One of the people in whom these phenomenons of football have reflected is the Gogo getters Football team in South Africa.

Alter gogo is a diptych portraits series of grand mothers footballers in Gogo Getters football club in Orange farm, a township of South Africa.For them, playing the game has become an alternative to better living and making social relevance in their community. Football playing is their therapy for their health, social and physiological problems, like diabetes, high blood pressure, alcoholism etc.

Alter gogo proposes an alternative image of African women. Quite often the collective imaginary, African women are often located in the sphere of the "tradition". The image is the one of the oppressed woman, submitted to tradition and tribal customs, with no authority, freedom and conception of the self. Women’s sad faces often complement African stories of famine, poverty and violence. Hence Alter gogo challenges gender stereotypes as well the role and image attributed to women, in particular in their old age. The Grand mothers’ regalia, their proud postures in the soccer field along with the charm of their intimate spaces and loves create a powerful socio-cultural scenario in which soccer is the means and expression of a new gender and generation identity.