NGADI SMART
Wata Na Life

Wata Na Life (Krio for ‘Water is Life’), is a phrase I heard time and again in Sierra Leone, a country where water is very much a currency. Commissioned by Wateraid and British Journal of Photography, I spent three months in the country of my heritage exploring the link between water and our changing climate. What I found were communities adapting as best they could to the fall-out from increasingly volatile climate brought on by climate change.⁠ The project is a marked rejection of the “dehumanising” way developing African nations have historically been portrayed by Western media — countering tropes of “poverty porn” with vibrant collage; celebrating the essence and identities of the people and places of Sierra Leone, blending each location's scenery, portraits, and objects I photographed, to form a more authentic representation than I felt any single photo could convey.⁠ I want Sierra Leoneans to look at this work and feel proud. That's the most important thing.

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