Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize

Absolutely stoked that my image of Mohamed Lappia has been chosen as part of this years Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize!

Mohamed is captain of the Freetown Flying Stars amputee football team in Sierra Leone.

The civil war in Sierra Leone (1991-2002) not only killed more than 50,000 people, it also led to thousands of innocent civilians having legs, arms or hands forcibly amputated by rebel soldiers. Or from landmines and bullets.

The Flying Star Amputees are a group of football teams across Sierra Leone born out of the adversity of this war.