Colours Of Leicester

Leicester is one of the most diverse cities in the UK, and university student, Kulsum Hafeji aims to capture this fact with her photojournalism.

Starting in the Summer of 2017, Kulsum set out in search of human connections and powerful images. She named her project 'Colours of Leicester' as an homage to the diverse city, stating that the word 'colour' is there to represent the different faiths, culture, languages, class, gender, and more, in the city of Leicester.

"I stumbled across the world of photojournalism and after being captivated by the artistic imagery and the storytelling images, I knew I wanted to go into this field of Journalism."

With an instant connection and love of photojournalism, Kulsum realised her main calling were the stories of the people she interviewed.

Credit: Kulsum Hafeji - Colours of Leicester

Kulsum believes that her Colours of Leicester project is more about the human story than the "artistic flair of the photo."

With her Canon 700D in hand, Kulsum makes her way from the city centre and walks in search of someone she can start a conversation with.

Kulsum started out her project by approaching people on their own who didn't look too busy and then eventually gained the confidence to approach couples and groups.

"I begin by introducing myself and I get directly to why I have approached them. If they express interest, I explain the project in more detail and show them the Colours of Leicester's Instagram page so they know exactly where their story will be showcased."

On the Instagram page, the human story is captured through a photo of the interviewee with a short introduction and their quotes alongside.

With 2020 giving Kulsum a lot of time on her hand, with her first year of university "coming to an abrupt end" at the start of the pandemic, she decided to focus on her project.

"Colours of Leicester had reached a stage where where I wanted to take it further and expand it, for more stories within the city to be heard. I came up with the idea of creating an online magazine for the project where people could share their stories via a different medium using poetry, written articles, or recipes."

Credit: Kulsum Hafeji - Colours of Leicester

Kulsum hopes to create a magazine "centred around storytelling and dismantling mainstream stereotypes and will be a platform written by and for the people of the city." Kulsum says that that her and a few others are "currently working hard behind the scenes to make the magazine come to life."

With 2020 being a challenging year and the whole world hoping for a calmer year in 2021, Kulsum says she plans to focus solely on her Colours of Leicester project whilst continuing to jot down ideas and inspiration for future projects.

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