In Photos: An Exploration of Cape Malay Muslim Heritage by Yaeesh Dollie
Coloured identity remains a complex and contested issue in the South African socio-political landscape. With its roots in the segregationist apartheid government, the question of what Coloured heritage means, and how it exists in the context of mixed-race indigenous people of South Africa, is a conversation that sparks heated debate, and is often left with no conclusion at all.
Yaeesh Dollie is a 20-year-old creative based in Cape Town, and has committed himself to the mission of finding out who he is and where he comes from-at any means necessary. “By exploring my heritage, I hope to find a new sense of self-identity that provides me with a sense of pride in being a Coloured and a Cape Malay Muslim. By doing so, I hope to rid myself of the identity that the white man has inflicted upon me and my people,” he shares.
Yaeesh has compiled his family history into “chapters” with various focus points, from celebrating the holy month of Ramadan to family portraits and tracing his grandfather’s life and work as a Coloured man in South Africa. His reason for choosing photography as his medium of choice is simple: “I believe people eat with their eyes and I always choose to keep this in mind when conceptualizing any project. An image tells a story and combining an image with words makes it an unstoppable force of knowledge.’
“I look back at my schooling experience and realize that my history was never taught to me as a Coloured and Malay Muslim individual. All I was ever taught about was the oppressor and their history.”
Along with his desire to discover more of his history, he criticizes the South African education system for making little to no contribution to that process: “I look back at my schooling experience and realize that my history was never taught to me as a Coloured and Malay Muslim individual. All I was ever taught about was the oppressor and their history. I have been ignorant of the fact that the white man has made many efforts to remove our history from the books and from our conscious thoughts. This realization has created a better understanding for me as to why I have always struggled to obtain a sense of pride in my identity” he writes under the “Cape Malay Roots” chapter on his Instagram page.
In our interview, Yaeesh reiterates that he does not claim to have all the answers, but that he encourages others to join him on his journey of uncovering the truth: “ I consider myself to be very young and with that being said I hope to inspire the youth to educate themselves about their heritage as the education system has failed to do so and continues to fail post Apartheid..The exploration of my heritage goes beyond me being a Coloured or a Cape Malay Muslim. My exploration will allow me to showcase the real Cape Town to the world.”
