King G was born and grew up in Kimberley, South Africa, and he once made a living buying and selling diamonds from informal diamond diggers in the area. Now he earns his way entertaining crowds by spinning and drifting his classic Mercedes at the Monster Mob Raceway.

The photo of King G by Ilan Godfrey was one of the winners in the 2014 Piclet.org Prize for Contemporary African Photography.

POPCAP announced the five winners, selected from 720 submissions. POPCAP awards prizes for photos produced in an African country or that deal with the African diaspora. Winners include Joana Choumali (Ivory Coast), Ilan Godfrey (South Africa), Léonard Pongo (Belgium), Anoek Steketee and Eefje Blankevoort (The Netherlands), and Patrick Willocq (France).

Submissions are judged by a panel of 26 international judges. POPCAP aims to raise the profile of African photography in the arts, and provide more publicity for artists engaging with the African continent.

The five series containing 10 or more images will be shown at seven public exhibitions starting with PhotoIreland Festival (Dublin), followed by ImageAfrique (Basel), Cape Town Month of Photography (Cape Town), Lagos Photo Festival (Lagos), Eyes On – European Month of Photography (Vienna), Festival Internacional De Fotografia de Cabo Verde (Mindelo), and concluding at Addis Photo Fest (Addis Ababa).

Here’s the story behind King G, one of the winning photos by South African photographer Ilan Godfrey:

King G was born and grew up in Kimberley and now lives in
the suburb of Homestead. There was a time when he made a
living buying and selling diamonds from informal diamond
diggers in the area. He now earns his way entertaining
crowds by spinning and drifting his classic Mercedes at
the Monster Mob Raceway. A diamond digger from the
Colville area says, “The buyers com  see us. We cannot
go to their houses. They check the diamond at the car. We
are pleased to get something to eat and maybe buy
groceries for the kids or something to wear. Our children
went to school this morning without a little coffee or
bread.”

For more photos, go to AnotherAfrica.net.