Last Updated on 11/21/2017 by Chris Gampat
All images by Kevin Goss-Ross. Used with Creative Commons permission.
Among the many motivations of photographers and creatives today is to foster equality, encourage diversity, and celebrate the harmony they create. In one of his personal street photography projects, South African-born Kevin Goss-Ross realizes this inspiration by documenting the different kinds of people he came across along a stretch of the KwaZulu-Natal coast. Documentary photography is often geared towards raising awareness about important social issues and injustices. But as Kevin demonstrates in his personal project called The Mile, it can also be a powerful tool in inspiring people to embrace diversity. His vehicle for illustrating this idea is the beach, which he sees as a place of convergence for all kinds of cultures, backgrounds, and classes.
“The beach is a shared space in which people from all backgrounds, classes and cultures collectively let their guard down. In a country still healing from a past marred by inequality, this setting is a testimony to Nelson Mandela’s dream of a rainbow nation,” he writes in his project’s description. “This series celebrates one mile of these beaches on the KwaZulu-Natal coast, a vision of what our country could be — in equal parts naivety and hope.”
For The Mile, Kevin chose a mile-long stretch of beach along South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province to give it a personal element, being South-African born himself. He took candid portraits of the many different kinds of people from all sorts of backgrounds and interests, who call the country home and converge on just that one mile of the coast for recreation. This diversity, in all its wonderful coexistence that he pictured in his mind and illustrated by scenes he captured, is simply beautiful and inspiring.
Kevin Goss-Ross takes pride in specializing in “portraiture in all its many guises”, so you might want to check out his other projects on his website and Behance portfolio.