Faces Of Urban Struggle
My Life is a Struggle Voltaire It’s 2 A.M here, and I’m up exploring a large collection of unpublished portraits of human suffering in Accra, Ghana’s capital city. There’s a lot of struggle in Ghana’s impoverished urban environment — urban poverty, wretched housing, environmental crisis (air pollution, plastic pollution, etc.). Men yearn for idyllic innocent […]
December 9, 2019
December 9, 2019
14 Min read time
#half Urban Man Smoking © 2019 Muntaka Chasant
My Life is a Struggle Voltaire It’s 2 A.M here, and I’m up exploring a large collection of unpublished portraits of human suffering in Accra, Ghana’s capital city. There’s a lot of struggle in Ghana’s impoverished urban environment — urban poverty, wretched housing, environmental crisis (air pollution, plastic pollution, etc.). Men yearn for idyllic innocent […]
My Life is a Struggle
Voltaire
It’s 2 A.M here, and I’m up exploring a large collection of unpublished portraits of human suffering in Accra, Ghana’s capital city.
There’s a lot of struggle in Ghana’s impoverished urban environment — urban poverty, wretched housing, environmental crisis (air pollution, plastic pollution, etc.).
Men yearn for idyllic innocent rural life. Yet, they cannot go back home because they do not suffer any less in their small villages and towns than they do now in the city. Their lives are immersed in sadness and pain no matter where they find themselves.
Some hawk on the streets in the day and take up a slice of the night-time economy through prostitution or makeshift food joints in the suburbs at night. Others sleep on cement sidewalks with their only possessions as pillows and wake up to labor in the most toxic environment imaginable.
The stress and strain of living in this rapidly changing urban environment are becoming unbearable for the young African.
Capturing their unrelenting struggle for survival in this harsh and brutal city life comes with a price for me — sleepless nights. The horrors of urban struggle. Pollution, the wretched human condition, children in hazardous spaces, etc.
Also Check out This Crucial Article & Documentary
Urban Outcasts: Children of Agbogbloshie
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For me, some of the faces below reflect the harsh conditions and mass struggle in Accra, home to one of Ghana’s functional urban cores.
Enjoy the portraits of these men in good health, and don’t forget to check out the other galleries below!
Leave your comment below and let me know what you think about these struggling urban faces.
© 2019 Muntaka Chasant
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December 9, 2019
14 Min read time
MUNTAKA CHASANT
Hi, Muntaka Chasant here. I'm, among many other things, an entrepreneur and a social documentary photographer. I'm here on the front line of urban struggle — only with my wits and cameras — capturing key moments, collecting untold stories, and helping to forge new paths.
Come and tag along as I descend into the trenches of urban struggle.
