Photographing Inside the Gates of a Closed Community
Erica Canepa ventured into one of South Africa's few remaining white-only settlements to better understand their way of life — what she found was not what she expected.
Italian photographer Erica Canepa describes herself as both “curious” and “stubborn.” Both of which are excellent characteristics for a photographer.
Both traits came in handy while pursuing a recent project on an extremely closed community in South Africa called Kleinfontein. The society, on the outskirts of Pretoria, is home to a small group of Christian Afrikaners who embrace traditional Afrikaner culture and exclude all others from their settlement.
When Canepa started researching the community she couldn’t find any photos of the place, and she wanted to know why. She also wanted to better understand the community members’ unique way of life. Afrikaners, also sometimes called Boers, are descended from mostly Dutch settlers. They maintain a distinct
