Our bodies aren’t indestructible. We all face our own fragility at some point, whether it’s old age or illness. But for Calvyn Fortuin, Evelina Tshabalala, and Tracey Derrick, it was when they appeared to be at their weakest that they discovered their true strength. Their stories encourage others to beat the odds set against them.
When Calvyn Fortuin was 14 years old, he picked up his father’s concrete dumbbells and unleashed a fervour for weightlifting. Practising every day, it wasn’t long until he began competing professionally, taking home multiple trophies. Six decades later, he’s one of South Africa’s oldest bodybuilders and has no intention of slowing down. While his body might not be as robust as it once was, Fortuin’s spirit is stronger than ever. Today, he encourages youth in the town of Heidedal to stay off the streets with his backyard gym. Here, they work on both their physical and mental strength. “By having a healthy mind, you can achieve anything in life,” Fortuin says. Passing on his knowledge to the next generation, he’s building a community that will never crumble.
Evelina Tshabalala was born to move. She has competed in numerous long-distance races, placed 25th in the London Marathon, and even summited three of the world’s highest mountains. But just a few years after she lined up for her first race, Tshabalala found herself stumbling. She discovered that she was HIV-positive. “I was thinking my life is finished,” Tshabalala says. “But I said no, nothing’s going to stop me.” Driven by her diagnosis, she got back on her feet and co-founded Positive Heroes to fight the harmful stigmas shrouding the virus. Tshabalala continues to run, inspiring people with HIV to live to their fullest. “It’s crucial that we find strength in ourselves,” she says. “Only then can we use the positive, radiant light to help others.”
As a photographer, Tracey Derrick focused on marginalised groups in society. But after 25 years of taking portraits of others, she turned the camera on herself to capture her journey with breast cancer. In her introspective series One in nine, Derrick documented her battle with the disease, revealing her most vulnerable moments. “Every photograph that I took during chemo made me feel so good,” Derrick said. In exposing both her physical and emotional scars, she found the strength that she needed.
While Derrick’s images empower others like her to find the resilience to keep fighting, Fortuin and Tshabalala prove that when we are guided by our inner strength, we can persevere.
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