African photographers,
an education
I’m not sure how it started, but I realized yesterday how woefully ignorant I am about African photographers. I can name plenty of North American, European and Asian photographers… A few less South American and Australian photographers, but still probably more than most… and then I realized that besides the members of the Bang Bang Club and Pieter Hugo I was struggling to come up with any (non-South) African photographers. Sure, I can name numerous talented Americans who have gone to Africa (some for extended periods of time, or made the move permanently), and made stellar pictures and told incredibly in-depth stories, but in my mind that’s not quite the same.
So my research began, as did my call for help on twitter. And in my education of African photographers, here are some of the incredibly talented ones you we should all be aware of:
Zwelethu Mthethwa, South Africa
Jim Chuchu, Kenya
Nana Kofi Acquah, Ghana
Zohra Bensemra, Algeria
Issraa El-Kogali, Sudan (there’s a good interview here)
Malick Sidibe, Mali (there’s a good interview here)
Samuel Fosso, Cameroon
Gregory Stemn, Liberia
Nat Bayjay, Liberia
Guy Tillim, South Africa
James Oatway, South Africa
Jodie Bieber, South Africa
Mikhael Subotzky, South Africa (there’s a good interview here)
***NEW links, thanks to some great comments left on this blog post**
Georgina Goodwin, Kenya… and she blog’s too
Boniface Mwangi, Kenya
Boubacar Touré Mandémory, Senegal
Seydou Keita, Mali
David Goldblatt, South Africa
********
There are some other great lists here and here.
[BIG thanks to @patrickwitty, @avose, @HABurton, @conoroleary, @ajchavar, @tammydavid and @ggkenya for the education!]
photo by Mikhael Subotzky14 Responses to “African photographers, an education”
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January 14th, 2011 at 7:20 pm
Good selection
You might also want to have a look at one great photographer : the late Seydou Keita (www.seydoukeitaphotographer.com) who has been exhibited from Tate to Fondation Cartier, etc.
January 15th, 2011 at 1:50 pm
Ad Seydou Keita and David Goldblatt
January 16th, 2011 at 11:25 am
Senegalese photographer Boubacar Touré Mandémory is one African photographer I think of to add to your list above.
January 18th, 2011 at 12:04 pm
Hiya!
Would like to ask if you have considered any African photographers outside South Africa who are not black? I am a freelance photojournalist-photographer, I was born in Kenya and still live in Kenya. I\’m Kenyan, I have no other nationality and \’am not entitled to any other too.
I have been working as a photographer since 2005 and also as a photojournalist since 2007 since the Kenyan election violence which I covered and had my work published with Reuters, McClatchy Newspapers in New York, also some other agencies including Kenyan ones.
My website is unfinished and needs a lot of attention but please feel free to have a look:
http://www.georginagoodwin.com
thank you for compiling this list of other African photographers. I\’m intrigued and very interested to see them. Keep digging for more and let me know please?!
I am on twitter:
@ggkenya
Thank you!
Georgina Goodwin
January 18th, 2011 at 12:07 pm
You should also look at Boniface Mwagi’s work. Kenyan photographer.
email:kenyaphoto@gmail.com
website: http://www.bonifacemwangi.com
January 18th, 2011 at 11:33 pm
remic – thank you. can’t wait to have a look.
January 18th, 2011 at 11:35 pm
alex – thanks so much. that’s the second suggestion for seydou keita’s work. i can’t wait to see it, and i’ll definitely add it to my list. also i’m not sure why i didn’t link to goldblatt’s stuff, i’m familiar with his name, i think i just had a hard time finding a good website with his work on there. all i can really find is the goodman gallery, and their website blows. send me a better link if you’ve got one.
January 18th, 2011 at 11:35 pm
awesome. i found a flickr set for his work, and there’s some nice stuff in there. appreciate the comment.
January 18th, 2011 at 11:42 pm
georgina – i was specifically trying to find photographers in south africa who weren’t white, since those were the only ones i was previously familiar with. but i had a hard time finding white african-born photographers in other countries. i also had a really hard time finding african female photographers. your work from the ethiopian drought and the kenyan elections is incredibly powerful. and i went to dia de los muertos just a year or two before you, and your pictures felt like a walk down memory lane for me. i’m glad you decided to comment. i love discovering new photographers, so thank you so much for sharing your work with me.
i’ll be glad to check out boniface mwagi’s work, too. what a great name… thanks!
January 29th, 2011 at 9:23 am
Africa is a Country often features African photographers: http://africasacountry.com/?s=photography. It’s a great blog – music, critical theory, current events.
February 1st, 2011 at 5:06 am
Here is an other good photorapher Akintunde Akinleye from Nigeria. A belgium book was published in Dutch and France with a whole list of African photographers: Afrika: Zelfportret (selfportrait) by Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika Tervuren ( Royal museum for Middle Africa) in Tervuren Belgium and have a look at this link:
http://www.africultures.com/php/index.php?nav=rubrique&sr=4
February 6th, 2011 at 2:56 am
Thank you for putting this together!
February 10th, 2011 at 4:44 am
Glad my list was useful, then again i’d also consider myself but that would be egotistical, no?
February 28th, 2011 at 4:42 pm
Here’s a few more African Photographers that are definitely worth checking out.
Santu Mofokeng’s portfolio: cargocollective.com/santumofokeng
Oupa Nkosi’s body of work called Black Diamonds, links to a page with a lot of African produced media about Africa: roadto2010.com/black-diamonds/
The work of Zanele Muholi: zanelemuholi.com/
Musa Nxumalo’s work: musanxumalo.com/