In my blog ‘A world in common, contemporary African photography, an introduction’ and my blog ‘A world in common, contemporary African photography, identity and tradition’ I describe the how and why of this exhibition I saw at the Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam.
The exhibition is divided into several themes and the second theme ‘Counterhistories’ I describe below. This section has two sub-themes, namely
- Family portraits
- The living archive
Counterhistories
The artists in this section confront the misleading (often stereotypical and racist) images propagated during colonial rule, and pay homage to the long tradition of African studio portrait photography, which gave more control to both the photographer and the subject.
Family portraits
This section of the exhibition focuses on the rich culture of the photographic studio. By the 1840s, many coastal towns in Africa had photographic studios where communities had more control over their images. Especially around the time of independence, photographic studios became places of self-expression and new identities. Photographs range from formal 19th century portraits to intimate family snapshots.
Since graduating in 2004, his work has been exhibited locally and internationally on a large scale. He is characterized by his conscious choice of themes, subcultures and minority groups that usually remain invisible. He follows a wide variety of people in the course of their daily activities.
His special interest is the concept of community, and how it is created, recurs in all these projects. He often spends weeks, months, or even years with those he has decided to photograph, creating a mutual bond. As a result, the photographer succeeds in creating images of a particularly intimate nature. He is also mentioned in the books African Artists from 1882 to now and African Art now.
She explored themes of personal history and ancestry whilst resonating with the history of South Africa and apartheid, by incorporating the archival and performative into a practice that centers storytelling and memory as it plays itself out in the familial experience. She is also mentioned in the book African Art now.
The photographic image is the starting point for a multi-layered plastic work. His work was also shown at the exhibition ‘Africa Supernova’ in museum De Kade in Amersfoort.
He established his famous ‘Ever Young’ studio in Accra in the early 1950s. In 1959 he arrived in London, furthering his studies and continuing assignments for influential South African magazine ‘Drum’. He insisted on a joyful and empowering approach to photography.
He returned to Ghana in the early 1970s to establish the country’s first colour processing lab while continuing his work as a portrait photographer and embedding himself in the music scene. He returned to London in 1994. He is mentioned in the book African Artists from 1882 to now and his work was also shown at the exhibition ‘In brilliant light’ in Leiden.
Lazhar Mansouri
His photo studio served thousands of Algerians with their photographic needs from id card photos to documenting family occasions.
She is interested in how photography can transport memories across time and geography and her practice takes inspiration from the dynamism of mid-century West-African studio photographers.
Her images centre and celebrate individual personalities and self-expression.
In this video, you can see Ruth Ginika Ossai working on her photos for Dior.
She was influenced by the works of studio photographers across Africa who directly challenged the European, ethnographic lens of most early photos of African people. She was initially inspired by photo and video technologies as weapons or tools that were used by colonizers to further their colonial plans. The first depictions of black people seen by outsiders and even by other black folks were ones that framed black bodies in such a potent way that socially those frames still exist today. More than that though, she is interested in the moment in history when black people took the camera and chose to photograph ‘ourselves for ourselves’.
Her work is also presented in the book African Artists from 1882 to now.
The living archive
This part of the exhibition examines the role of archives in relation to remembering the past, especially after the independence of African countries (from the 1950s). Many colonial archives have been abandoned, hidden or destroyed. The artists in this section use the archive as an inspiration to tell new stories. They reveal the suppressed histories/stories and bring them back to life, creating a new sequence of events.
In the exhibition was shown ‘A history of a City in a Box’. The starting point for this work was getting a store of old box files from an office in Lagos called ‘The Printing Press’. She saw the boxes and it had an organic, tectonic structure. There was a motion that came into play when she followed the spirit and it ended up with a landscape depicting Lagos, which is chaos and disorder but also a mega city with amazing things going on.
If you like to learn more about Ndidi Dike you can watch this video. Her work is also presented in the book African Artists from 1882 to now.
The exhibition featured her work ‘Figures’, in which she uses outdated maps as a starting point to explore the origins of globalisation in the nineteenth century, the age of empire building. According to her we should always remember that cartography was one of the most powerful political and ideological tools of the nineteenth century. Similarly, banknotes often conveyed stereotypes promoted by successive rulers and leaders. The role of these printed documents is not so far removed from that of photography.
‘Figures’ uproots images to question the circulation and authority of knowledge. These elements come together to create an imaginary world where disparate histories, identities and natural environments encourage expanded readings of global histories.
His work is an ongoing research into the cultural, architectural and industrial heritage of the Katanga region, as well as a questioning of the impact of the Belgian colonization. His use of photography archives enables him to manipulate time and space, thus comparing old colonial narratives to contemporary economic imperialisms.
An interview with Sammy Baloji can be seen here. His work was also displayed at the exhibition ‘Cosmogenies’ in Cobra Museum in Amstelveen and at the exhibition ‘In brilliant light’ in Wereldmuseum, Leiden. His work is also described in the books African Artists from 1882 to now and African Art now.
The documentary opens with an article by environmental journalist Daniel Grossman, describing the discovery of journals kept by Ghent University biologist Koen Hufkens between 1937 and 1958. Originally kept by researchers at the Yangambi Biological Station in the heart of the Congo Basin jungle, they show how much carbon dioxide produced by the world is consumed by the trees of the Congolese jungle. A comparison with today’s data is also a stark reminder of how fragile our ecosystem has become.
Sammy Baloji examines the colonial history surrounding this research and presents a detailed study of the Democratic Republic of Congo over the past century. Divided into three parts, the film combines personal testimony with scientific evidence to trace the legacy of Belgian colonisation – not only its profound impact on human lives, but also on the natural world. It confronts the exploitation embedded in this history and asks urgent questions about its continued resonance in a world facing ecological collapse. L’arbre de l’authenticité is also a compelling portrait of life across cultures and backgrounds.
Samson Kambalu
The series ‘The Flag Factory’ shown at the exhibition, is an installation of prints and sewn flags drawn from his childhood memory of collecting bubblegum cards of the flags of the world. The cardboard cut-out figures are photographs of African soldiers sourced from the Weston Library in Oxford. He uses cardboard to reference their expendable status by colonial powers in combat. He questions the nature of national and sovereign identities to seek out shared sense of humanity.
See also the video. His work was also shown at the exhibition ‘Africa Supernova’ in museum De Kade in Amersfoort. His work is also described in the books African Artists from 1882 to now and African Art now.
He is known for experimenting with analogue photographic printing processes, including cyanotype, platinum and early printing processes such as ‘Van Dyke Brown’, as well as developing his own printing techniques. He uses analogue processes to subvert the reproducibility of the photographic medium, creating subtle variants and interventions using painting, liquid-light, gold-leafing and collage. In the exhibition was shown his series ‘The Lost Chapter: Nampula 1963’ with which he points to the historical function of photography as an administrative tool of surveillance and colonial-era oppression. His work is also described in the book African Artists from 1882 to now.
In my last blog on ‘A World in Common’ I describe the third part of the exhibition ‘Imagined Futures’. I hope you continue to find my quest as fascinating and enjoyable as I do.
Johanna, 23rd April 2025
