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. While photographing boxing, I started noticing how much of the sport exists outside the ring. On the streets, there are paintings, graffiti, posters, signs and names celebrating boxers, but almost everything I saw represented male boxers.

One day, I saw this painting of a male boxer under the bridge. 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. I returned with Elizabeth and asked her to stand beneath it.

I wanted to make a photograph where a woman became part of that landscape. The painting behind her represents the boxers already visible and celebrated in public spaces, while Elizabeth’s presence speaks to the women who are also part of the sport but are rarely represented in the same way.

Elizabeth trains at Black Panthers boxing gym in Jamestown under coach Ebenezer Adjei, known as Coach Killer. She is also a member of the Black Hitters, Ghana’s national women’s amateur boxing team. Elizabeth told me that boxing is a source of empowerment for her. She sees it as a way to build confidence, create opportunities and work towards a different future.

This photograph is part of Women Who Fight, my project about female boxers in Ghana. It looks at their lives inside and outside the ring and at what it means to participate in a sport where women remain far less visible than men.

For me, making this portrait was also a way of creating a record. 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.

Reporting from The Guardian contributed to this story.