Gallery F is showcasing AMEN | Grassroots Football, a solo exhibition by Belgian-born photographer Jessica Hilltout until 18 July, 2026. The Cape Town exhibition presents a selection of works from her celebrated photographic project – a body of work that began in 2008 as a personal journey into the meaning of football across Africa, beyond the stadiums and pitches.
In 2008, Hilltout left Brussels for Cape Town with a Hasselblad, 300 rolls of film and a question: what does football mean across Africa?
There was no fixed plan. Nothing had been pre-arranged. Over the course of nine months, she travelled across the continent to 10 different countries, first in an old VW Beetle fitted with a roof rack, three spare tyres, two jerry cans and raised suspension, and later in a converted Nissan Vanette that became her mobile living space.
Across cities, towns and open fields, she photographed football at grassroots level, following the game wherever she found it being played. The work looks beyond the spectacle of stadiums and professional sport, focusing instead on football as a shared act of play, connection and identity.
A central part of the project came through the exchange of footballs. Throughout the journey, Hilltout exchanged manufactured footballs for handmade ones. By the end of the trip, she had returned to South Africa with 35 handmade balls, objects that came to represent the essence of the journey and the heart of the project.
AMEN | Grassroots Football brings together photographs and stories from this journey, offering a direct and deeply human view of football as it exists across different places and communities on the African continent.
As Hilltout writes: “In Africa, football is not a religion. But it is everything a religion should be.”
Project summary in her own words
“I set out on an adventure to capture the passion of football on the African continent at a grassroots level. I travelled more than 20,000 km across 10 countries. Equiped with my Hasselblad, 300 rolls of film, my logbook, mini digital camera and digital printer and a stock of deflated footballs.”
“Far from what happens on TV, far from the big stadiums, the glitz and the sponsors… I wanted to speak of the masses, the forgotten ones. To speak of the World Cups that are played everyday by teams, friends, communities all over the continent where they are making balls, marking pitches, scoring goals and above all pleasing themselves. The power of the ball and the beautiful game whether it be in professional clubs or small rural village is enormous. Here football is not just a game, it is the glue that binds village to village, team to team, tribe to tribe and people to people. I just followed my gut and felt my way through villages in search of all those little details that speak of Africa’s great football passion. For me all the big stories are in the small details.”
“People were incredibly helpful and once I had gained their trust they gave me more than I could ever have imagined. When I got home my head and heart were full of life lessons and beautiful memories. This project was living inside me.”
“All the people who live and will remain in the shadow of the World Cup deserve to have a light shone on them, not just for their passion for the game but more so for the fundamental energy and enthusiasm that shines through the way they live. I wanted to embrace Africa and everything that makes it unique. To speak of the authenticity and sheer ingeniousness of a continent that manages to do so much with so little. To capture people with simple needs and huge hearts. To express football in its purest form.”
What: AMEN | Grassroots Football – Solo exhibition by Jessica Hilltout
Where: Gallery F, 78 Shortmarket Street, corner Loop Street, Cape Town
Opening Times: Monday – Friday 10am – 4pm
Next Walkabout: Saturday, 11 July 2026
Time: 11:00am–1:00pm
RSVP: To sean@galleryf.co.za if you will be attending.
WS
