The Journey home from school

Photographer

Laura Pannack

14 Feb, 2026

;Making our way home from school; is a simple, nostalgic, and universal experience—one many of us can relate to. In South Africa, however, this daily routine unfolds within a vastly different reality: a country marked by extreme social inequality and one of the fastest-growing youth populations in the world.This project explores the turbulent public lives of young people growing up in the gang-controlled Cape Flats area of Cape Town. Together, we walk to and from school, navigating the constant threat of gang crossfire.Dialogue emerges as cameras pass between the youth and myself—a collaborative exchange that produces material offering rare insight into their complex and often contradictory experience of adolescence.The work is created collectively through analog photography, drawings, poetry, collage, and cyanotypes. All titles remain works in progress.

About the photographer

Laura Pannack

’I learn most when I walk with a camera; about myself and the company I share. I engage. I stop mentally. I listen.’Laura Pannack is a London based photographic artist.Renowned for her portraiture and social documentary work, she seeks to explore the complex relationship between subject and photographer. Her work has been extensively exhibited and published worldwide, including at The National Portrait Gallery, The Houses of Parliament, Somerset House and the Royal Festival Hall in London. Her artwork has received much acclaim and won numerous awards, among which are the John Kobal Award , Vic Odden prize, World Photo Press Awards, Juliet Margaret Cameron award and the HSBC Prix de la Photographie prize. Driven by research-led, self-initiated projects, Pannack seeks to fully understand the lives of those she captures on film in order to portray them as truthfully as possible. Perceiving “time, trust and understanding” to be the key elements to achieving this, many of her projects develop over several years, helping her achieve a genuine connection between herself and her sitter and allowing her to capture the intimacy, shared ideas and shared experiences of this relationship.‘Laura’s remarkable ability to build trust and respect with her subjects allows her to express a gritty vulnerability that is as sincere as it is elusive to capture.’Terry O’ Neill – photographer London based but I always have my toothbrush packed and ready to travel at any time