Coming of age for Swazi girls is tough. A tiny African nation of one million, Swaziland is ruled by one of the world’s last remaining absolute monarchies. Its age-old tradition of polygamy and its relaxed attitude toward sexuality have met in a devastating combination for women: Swaziland reports the highest percentage of HIV-positive people in the world, with the hardest hit being young women. For every two young Swazi women, one is HIV-positive. Life expectancy has dropped from 61 to almost 31 over the past ten years.
I first went to Swaziland in 2006 to document the coming of age rites of young women living amidst a spreading disease and its victims—women who, even in the face of such staggering odds and deep uncertainty, still possess all the energy and enthusiasm of youth. My goal was to capture the nuances that comprise a human, rather than simply tragic, experience. Over the past five years, the progression of this work has moved from traditional rites of passage to modern youth culture to an intimate look inside the homes of HIV-positive women.
Krisanne Johnson
Krisanne Johnson (b. 1976) grew up in Xenia, Ohio. She graduated with a degree in journalism from the University of Colorado and pursued postgraduate work in visual communications at Ohio University.
Since 2006, Krisanne has been working on long-term personal projects about young women and H.I.V/AIDS in Swaziland and post-apartheid South African youth culture. Her work has been recognized by World Press Photo, Pictures of the Year International, and the Best of Photojournalism. She has received the Getty Images Grant for Editorial Photography, a W. Eugene Smith Fellowship, and support from the Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund.
Her work has appeared in various magazines and newspapers, including TIME, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Fader, US News & World Report, Vanity Fair (Italy), and Newsweek (Japan). In 2010, POLKA Galerie in Paris exhibited her South African youth culture work as part of their group exhibit on past and current South African documentary photography.
