Paul Seawright (b. 1965) Untitled (woman and child)

For those who have suffered illness, the doctor’s waiting room is an all too familiar experience. The neutral decor, institutional seating and outdated magazines offer little distraction from feelings of worry. In Paul Seawright’s photograph, a woman and her child are waiting in a run down African clinic. The cluttered cardboard boxes and shuttered windows of the site powerfully capture the waiting room’s atmosphere of boredom and anxiety, while the low camera angle parallels and emphasises the perspective of the child who looks out to hold the viewer’s gaze. The neglected setting and posters for malaria prevention suggest the challenges of accessing adequate healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa.

Paul Seawright's photography often explores sites of political conflict and change, from the troubled regions of Northern Ireland to the battlefields of Afghanistan. This work is from the artist’s Invisible Cities series that documented fast growing and unplanned settlements in urban Africa, emerging cities themselves on the periphery of Lagos, Johannesburg, Lusaka and Addis Ababa