Big picture: No Man's Job - female mechanics in Senegal by Anthony Kurtz

There is a rich, cinematic quality to Anthony Kurtz’s photographs of female mechanics in Dakar, but the stories are real.→
Photograph: Anthony Kurtz

Fatou Sylla and Fatou Camara are rare examples of women doing “men’s work” – unusual enough in the UK, let alone in Senegal.→
Photograph: Anthony Kurtz

After graduating and learning their trade at a bodyshop, the pair founded their own car repair business, Fatou Fatou Mercedes Garage, to raised eyebrows. A few years on, after squatting in various buildings, they now have their own premises and three (male) employees.→
Photograph: Anthony Kurtz

They’d love to employ women, they say, but there aren’t enough qualified female mechanics around: at Dakar’s Centre for Professional and Technical Training, only around one woman a year graduates with a degree in car repair.→
Photograph: Anthony Kurtz

Kurtz, a young art and commercial photographer, was keen to draw attention to the struggles of working women in Africa, but says he wanted above all to create beautiful images.→
Photograph: Anthony Kurtz

Using flash and lengthy retouching – including toning down the women’s vibrant orange tops into a more pleasing shade of coral – he has infused these urban scenes with a shot of glamour.→
Photograph: Anthony Kurtz

The result is less gritty reportage, more filmic grace, like images from a fashion magazine. By taking a more painterly approach, Kurtz has heightened the reality of this everyday work, and the photographs – and their important issues – have arguably reached a wider audience.→
Photograph: Anthony Kurtz

The women were open to being photographed: educated people like them are aware of the power of the media, Kurtz says. They even had a much-publicised visit from Senegal’s former president, Abdoulaye Wade.→
Photograph: Anthony Kurtz

Today, Fatou Fatou Mercedes has a strong following; along with another firm of female mechanics, Femme Auto, and a female-run taxi firm, Taxi Sisters, Sylla and Camara are blazing an automotive trail through Senegal’s male-dominated workforce.→
Photograph: Anthony Kurtz