Dan Nelken’s HeadStrong Brings Together Portraits and Testimonies of Working Women in Rural Uganda
A new photobook is placing the faces and voices of working women in rural Uganda at the center of the frame. HeadStrong: The Women of Rural Uganda, shot by New York-based photographer Dan Nelken, is due out from Kehrer Verlag in 2026, and it pairs intimate portraits with personal testimonies from a diverse group of women across the country's rural communities.
What makes this project feel especially grounded is the Ugandan voices woven into it. Writers Beatrice Lamwaka, Ber Anena, and Stella Nyanzi each contribute to the book, bringing local literary weight to what could otherwise have been an outsider's gaze.
Portrait photography about African women can so easily flatten into something decorative. If the testimonies carry the same specificity as the names behind them suggest, HeadStrong might be one to watch when it lands next year.
Originally published by Brittle Paper.