Women behind the lens: ‘I may not be able to decide whose faces are painted on walls but I can make sure female boxers are part of that archive’

I took this portrait of Elizabeth Boakye, an amateur boxer, in the Abossey Okai neighbourhood of Accra, Ghana, in May 2026. On the streets, there are paintings, graffiti, posters, signs and names celebrating boxers, but almost everything I saw represented male boxers. I remember looking at it and thinking about how I could add or imprint a female boxer into this archive of boxing that already exists on the streets. This photograph is part of Women Who Fight, my project about female boxers in Ghana. I may not be able to decide whose faces are painted on walls or whose names become part of the streets but, through my photographs, I can make sure female boxers are also part of that archive.