MARSHALL

(Words by Pick Up People founder, Nick Lawrence)
On a small domestic flight from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth in March 2019, a tall dreadlocked man sat across the aisle from me. The book he was reading piqued my interest and I struck up a conversation. It came about that we both enjoyed basketball – in fact the personal project I’d been scheming at that point intended to explore the positive social impact of “pick up” basketball. Three days later, we were proof of the concept, playing pick up in Port Elizabeth together, where Marshall was kind enough to sit for this portrait, the first in this ongoing series.