Glorious Sport: Redefining Rugby - Alejandra Carles-Tolra discusses her images of tenacious women’s rugby players who are tackling homophobia head-on

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Originally hailing from Barcelona, London-based photographer Alejandra Carles-Tolra’s work has travelled far and wide, with exhibitions across the US, Europe and Asia. The Jerwood Visual Arts/Photoworks Award-winner can turn her camera to anything, from the intimate homes of Puerto Rican families to the helmeted heads of motorbike riders, harnessing a background in sociology to explore “how identities are shaped and how they inform who we are.”

But before she was a prize-winning photographer, Alejandra was a thwarted football player. As a young girl, she was naturally gifted at and enthusiastic about the beautiful game – but barriers to participating in what was then deemed a “boy’s” sport meant that she had to ditch the pitch and embrace the basketball court. “As a kid I loved football, but in most schools in Spain, at least back then, there were no football teams for girls,” she recalls. “It was really frustrating because I actually ended up playing basketball, which was not a sport that I particularly liked, as that’s what my female friends did.”