African identities
This Is My Africa campaign: We asked and you responded with wonderful submissions
Thanks Africa! We have had a lot of positive feedback from you about our new “This Is My Africa” campaign which aims to promote positive images about our continent. We asked you to show us your Africa and you did. We will be publishing an article with your submissions every week so Keep them coming! Here are a few of the great submissions we have received already.
Published
9 years agoon
By
Brian Obara
Campaigns like “This Is My Africa” are only sustainable if we train the next generation of photographers to take up the art. It’s never too early to start either. From her submission, that’s certainly a sentiment shared by Ola Alsheikh from Sudan.
Alsheikh: This is a self portrait of me and my photography students. I was introducing photography to kids at Steps international school Omdurman, Sudan.
Alsheikh: This is Mohamed Sharhabil Ahmed, a famous guitarist and drummer in Sudan.
Alsheikh : This is a photo I took of the young artist Hazim Alhussain in the process of painting a mural project in Yalla, Khartoum. Alhussain is a member of Khaish studio.
Photographer: Ola Alsheikh
Country: Sudan
City: Khartoum
………………………………………..
This photograph taken by Karen Chan on a rooftop in Nairobi, Kenya reminds us, in its own subtle way, of the indelible mark left by the late Muhammad Ali.
Chan: This is a photograph of a rooftop celebration after the Amani Institute social innovation student presentations at PAWA 254. Mohammed and Hassan, both filmmakers, are admiring a mural painted to remember Muhammad Ali. PAWA254 is a hotbed of activism where art is promoted as a vehicle for social change.
Photographer: Karen Chan
Country: Kenya
City: Nairobi
………………………………………..
And yes, we encourage you to be as playful and inventive as you can you can with your submissions. Selfies are cool too. Rosemary Wanjiru from Kenya doesn’t need a memo about that. Taken slightly after dawn, Wanjiru’s photo shows her bathed in glorious sunlight.
Wanjiru: This can only be taken in my Africa!
Photographer: Rosemary Wanjiru
Country: Kenya
………………………………………..
Finally, a special thanks to Martha Tadesse, a self-taught photographer and storyteller who made her cache of photos shot in around Addis Ababa, Ethiopia available to us. Hat tip Tadesse!
Tadesse: Team work. I’ll will do the pedals, you do the handlebars.
Tadesse: Empty beer bottles going back to the brewery. Beer production is one of the most lucrative industries in Ethiopia. Beer companies provide much of the money for advertising in the media and also sponsor events.
Tadesse: Dorze village is 30km away from Arba Minch in Southern Ethiopia. The Dorze community is known for traditional weaving and cotton spinning. Boys learn weaving at the age of 10 and girls learn spinning at 7. The scarves and hats come in different colours and designs.
Tadesse: Getahun (on the right) performs the Dorze traditional dance with his friend. Dorze men would wear leopard skin and their colourful pants, carry spear and shield on holidays and different events.
Photographer: Martha Tadesse
Country: Ethiopia
You may like
Ghana’s National Museum: superb restoration but painful stories remain untold
Tshwane University of Technology confers honorary doctorates to four prominent personalities
Kenya’s Samburu warriors still practise a rock art tradition that tells their stories
“Les Sapeurs”, Black Dandyism and the genesis of gender fluid African fashion
What is cultural appropriation and why is it so harmful?
Nyege Nyege music festival in Uganda is back on – but morality police are watching