Andrea Stultiens I wish there was colour, I wish there was sound
Pre-order The distortion of African realities in 33+ images. In this 256 pages book, a new ZAM publication, photographer Pieter van der Houwen shows in an appealing and accessible way, how his work often fell victim to “framing” – made to fit within a biased European “understanding” of Africa. Exuberant photography, deeply honest personal reflections and an essay by Dutch Liberian novelist Vamba Sherif. Read Pieter van der Houwen preface here . Design Erik Kessels. Release date 25 September 2024....
Pre-order The distortion of African realities in 33+ images. In this 256 pages book, a new ZAM publication, photographer Pieter van der Houwen shows in an appealing and accessible way, how his work often fell victim to “framing” – made to fit within a biased European “understanding”...
World renowned South African poet James Matthews has died at 95. His was the last great voice of an era of writers who worked against South Africa’s repressive and racist system of apartheid, which resulted in him being relentlessly harassed, detained by police and his work banned. In February, 2020, a special video with James Matthews reading his poem Freedom Child was screened at the ZAM Nelson Mandela Lecture at the International Theatre Amsterdam. South African singer Melanie Scholtz sang the...
World renowned South African poet James Matthews has died at 95. His was the last great voice of an era of writers who worked against South Africa’s repressive and racist system of apartheid, which resulted in him being relentlessly harassed, detained by police and his work banned....
ZAM Magazine is looking for a freelance English speaking (C2 proficiency or equivalent) copy editor for 12 hours (1.5 days) per week to strengthen our newsroom and editorial teams. ZAM brings the stories, insights and experiences of African creatives and innovators in investigative journalism, photography, art and opinion to the attention of a growing international audience. Imbued with the urgency and universal significance of these stories, ZAM introduces new perspectives to the discussions of...
ZAM Magazine is looking for a freelance English speaking (C2 proficiency or equivalent) copy editor for 12 hours (1.5 days) per week to strengthen our newsroom and editorial teams. ZAM brings the stories, insights and experiences of African creatives and innovators in investigative...
The destruction of Quirimbas Park The Quirimbas National Park in Cabo Delgado, Mozambiqe, is a UNESCO heritage site described on its website as “a hidden gem in Africa’s crown, with beautiful costal forest, secluded islands, and turquoise waters.” It has supposedly received significant amounts in “green” funds from France, Italy, the EU, the World Bank, and other donors to ensure its continued existence as a pristine biosphere. But rapacious logging inside the park is devastating the area. Culprits...
The destruction of Quirimbas Park The Quirimbas National Park in Cabo Delgado, Mozambiqe, is a UNESCO heritage site described on its website as “a hidden gem in Africa’s crown, with beautiful costal forest, secluded islands, and turquoise waters.” It has supposedly received...
South Africa has a strange tendency to put total opposites in the international spotlight. Bad boy Paul Kruger, a Boer hero who fought both the imperialist British and the country's original inhabitants, thrilled thousands of Dutch supporters in the early 1900s. Freedom fighters like Nelson and Winnie Mandela, Archbishop Tutu, or white human rights lawyer Bram Fischer inspired international solidarity movements decades later with their principled struggle against racism and oppression. Athlete...
South Africa has a strange tendency to put total opposites in the international spotlight. Bad boy Paul Kruger, a Boer hero who fought both the imperialist British and the country's original inhabitants, thrilled thousands of Dutch supporters in the early 1900s. Freedom fighters...
Read the Dutch version below [We] begin to expand that archive with the aim of ensuring that it will no longer be what it was,” says artist/photographer Andrea Stultiens about the impressive exhibition and publication in which, in collaboration with numerous African creatives, the work of colonial photographer and anthropologist Paul Julien is re-viewed. It began with the discovery of one of Paul Julien's books at a second-hand market. Images of a trip through an African country. One of the...
Read the Dutch version below [We] begin to expand that archive with the aim of ensuring that it will no longer be what it was,” says artist/photographer Andrea Stultiens about the impressive exhibition and publication in which, in collaboration with numerous African creatives, the...
The internet is awash with descriptions of the space that South African documentary photographer and journalist Gopolang Ledwaba set up at 9737 Cemetery Road, Braamfischerville, Soweto, earlier this year. The Mandebele Photo Gallery, we read, is a space for education, “incubatorship”, and upliftment; a resource centre; a project space; a cultural hub; and a café. Ultimately, the space, not much bigger than a garage, is a community centre . Multi-purpose spaces are not unique; you find them in...
The internet is awash with descriptions of the space that South African documentary photographer and journalist Gopolang Ledwaba set up at 9737 Cemetery Road, Braamfischerville, Soweto, earlier this year. The Mandebele Photo Gallery, we read, is a space for education,...
The highly anticipated second volume in the widely acclaimed and celebrated self-portrait series, Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness by Zanele Muholi, which it's first book won the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation award as the best photography book award and the second edition is here. In Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness, Volume II, Zanele Muholi explores and expands upon new personas and poetic interpretations of personhood, queerness, blackness, and the possibilities of self. Since the...
The highly anticipated second volume in the widely acclaimed and celebrated self-portrait series, Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness by Zanele Muholi, which it's first book won the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation award as the best photography book award and the second edition is...
While recent years have seen Israel exporting advanced surveillance technologies to countries across the continent, there’s a parallel trend of supplying traditional crowd control equipment such as tear gas canisters. In June and July 2024, East Africa experienced waves of protests, notably in Kenya, where large-scale youth-led demonstrations erupted in response to the contentious Finance Bill 2024. The demonstrations were part of a broader effort to pressure President William Ruto, with activist...
While recent years have seen Israel exporting advanced surveillance technologies to countries across the continent, there’s a parallel trend of supplying traditional crowd control equipment such as tear gas canisters. In June and July 2024, East Africa experienced waves of protests,...
In August and September, Nigerian photographer Stephen Tayo will be staying at the BijlmAIR studio in Heesterveld at the invitation of the Amsterdam Buro Stedelijk. Tayo is a self-taught fashion, art and cultural photographer who uses his work as a platform for social commentary on wealth, class, race, gender and identity. The artist occupies his surroundings as his photo studio, a method he will also use in the Bijlmer. BijlmAIR (Bijlmer Artist-in-Residence) is the residency program of CBK...
In August and September, Nigerian photographer Stephen Tayo will be staying at the BijlmAIR studio in Heesterveld at the invitation of the Amsterdam Buro Stedelijk. Tayo is a self-taught fashion, art and cultural photographer who uses his work as a platform for social commentary on...
Nurturing Ghana's Creative Future. In this interview, Chantal Akworkor Thomson speaks about the launch of the Young Artists Series by La Foundation of the Arts in Accra. La Foundation for the Arts has launched an exciting initiative called the Young Artists Series, designed to uplift and empower young artists in Ghana. Spearheaded by Chantel Akworkor Thompson, this program aims to provide a platform for emerging talents to showcase their work and gain the recognition they deserve. Chantel was...
Nurturing Ghana's Creative Future. In this interview, Chantal Akworkor Thomson speaks about the launch of the Young Artists Series by La Foundation of the Arts in Accra. La Foundation for the Arts has launched an exciting initiative called the Young Artists Series, designed to...
The Swahili film industry is undergoing a makeover and stands to gain significantly if an Idris Elba mega studio comes to fruition. The project recently received a major boost with the allocation of an 80-hectare site in Zanzibar. The allocation of an 80-hectare parcel of land in Zanzibar to Hollywood star Idris Elba to build a film studio marks a new milestone in efforts to develop a regional film industry - efforts that are being supported by local government. "Idris Elba will be building a...
The Swahili film industry is undergoing a makeover and stands to gain significantly if an Idris Elba mega studio comes to fruition. The project recently received a major boost with the allocation of an 80-hectare site in Zanzibar. The allocation of an 80-hectare parcel of land in...
Inspired by a tapestry of Bantu folk stories, the video game 'Tales of Kenzera: Zau' is rich with mythology that many Africans know as our heritage. Since playing it, Tales of Kenzera: Zau has never left me. Grief is life’s inevitable tragedy, and until this game, I’ve never felt it adequately explored in the medium. It’s odd because death is everywhere in video games. It’s an incentive or an insignificant punishment without consequence: numbered hearts, a health bar, a kill streak, or a Dark...
Inspired by a tapestry of Bantu folk stories, the video game 'Tales of Kenzera: Zau' is rich with mythology that many Africans know as our heritage. Since playing it, Tales of Kenzera: Zau has never left me. Grief is life’s inevitable tragedy, and until this game, I’ve never felt it...
Removed from the facts, the firestorm around Algerian boxer Imane Khelif is the latest attempt by the right-wing in the West to find fodder for its culture war. Imane Khelif must be feeling awfully confused. Out of nowhere, a woman who was raised in a poor, conservative family in Biban Mesbah—an agricultural village in central Algeria that even most Algerians aren’t familiar with—has been quickly plunged into a toxic culture war online, where she’s the target of global abuse and harassment. If...
Removed from the facts, the firestorm around Algerian boxer Imane Khelif is the latest attempt by the right-wing in the West to find fodder for its culture war. Imane Khelif must be feeling awfully confused. Out of nowhere, a woman who was raised in a poor, conservative family in...
The crux of the struggle lies in reclaiming the soul of Kenya from a generation that became malevolent during public duty. The recent protests, sparked by a youth movement rejecting the Finance Bill 2024, have grown into widespread demonstrations confronting deep-seated issues within Kenya. What started as peaceful gatherings in Nairobi, with the prominent presence of young women denouncing the proposed Finance Bill, deteriorated into a storming of parliament and violent confrontations with police,...
The crux of the struggle lies in reclaiming the soul of Kenya from a generation that became malevolent during public duty. The recent protests, sparked by a youth movement rejecting the Finance Bill 2024, have grown into widespread demonstrations confronting deep-seated issues...
Anti-government protests have spread to Uganda, where ordinary people are tired of passively accepting elite misrule. “(We) are called bazukulu , meaning ‘grandchildren.’ (…) We are certainly beyond the days of being an infantilized citizenry.” Kenya is the talk of the East African neighborhood because a cross-section of its citizenry continues to demand accountability and speak up against vile egocentric economic policies. Kenya is a prime example of a people who have rejected spectator...
Anti-government protests have spread to Uganda, where ordinary people are tired of passively accepting elite misrule. “(We) are called bazukulu , meaning ‘grandchildren.’ (…) We are certainly beyond the days of being an infantilized citizenry.” Kenya is the talk of the East African...
Welcome Paul Mbikayi, Dineo Nhlapo, Joseph Seh and Milton van Wyk. They will be taking over the reins from outgoing board members Annelies Verdoolaege, Gerard Wieffer, Jan Meijer, Randall Maarman, Margriet van der Waal and Randall Maarman. ZAM is immensely grateful for their contribution to the work of the organization. Thank you for being willing to share insights and experiences and, often, contributing in practical ways to ZAM’s many activities! The new board members bring a wealth of knowledge...
Welcome Paul Mbikayi, Dineo Nhlapo, Joseph Seh and Milton van Wyk. They will be taking over the reins from outgoing board members Annelies Verdoolaege, Gerard Wieffer, Jan Meijer, Randall Maarman, Margriet van der Waal and Randall Maarman. ZAM is immensely grateful for their...
In 2001, when Lindokuhle Sobekwa was 6, his sister disappeared. Ziyanda, 12, witnessed her little brother being hit by a car in Khumalo Street, Thokoza, a township east of Johannesburg. In Lindokuhle's blurred memories, a young woman was standing over him after the hit – but he is not sure if that was Ziyanda. With a broken spine, he was carted off to the hospital, where his recovery took three months. Once back home, Ziyanda was nowhere to be found. It was 11 years before Lindokuhle was able to...
In 2001, when Lindokuhle Sobekwa was 6, his sister disappeared. Ziyanda, 12, witnessed her little brother being hit by a car in Khumalo Street, Thokoza, a township east of Johannesburg. In Lindokuhle's blurred memories, a young woman was standing over him after the hit – but he is...
During the second Olympic Games in 1904 in St. Louis, USA, African athletes were still excluded from official competition. However, they did participate in a kind of shadow games, “athletic events for savages.” In a retrospective in this issue, sports historian Francois Cleophas recalls this “unique spectacle” in which spectators witnessed how the “savage tribes” had to pelt each other with stones in one of the events. After African American runner Jesse Owens mocked Adolf Hitler at the 1936 Games...
During the second Olympic Games in 1904 in St. Louis, USA, African athletes were still excluded from official competition. However, they did participate in a kind of shadow games, “athletic events for savages.” In a retrospective in this issue, sports historian Francois Cleophas...
The answer to that question reveals the surprising story of a 1904 marathon – and exposes the history of racism and white supremacy that characterised the Olympics in its early days. The first modern Olympic Games was held in 1896 in Greece. This was at the height of European colonialism and there is no record of Africans participating. It was only after the second world war, in the late 1940s, that African countries began to join the Olympic movement in significant numbers, as African independence...
The answer to that question reveals the surprising story of a 1904 marathon – and exposes the history of racism and white supremacy that characterised the Olympics in its early days. The first modern Olympic Games was held in 1896 in Greece. This was at the height of European...
How many meanings does colour have? What is its hidden power? And what do artists do with that? For readers of ZAM, the True Colours exhibition is, as far as African artists are concerned, a feast of recognition. Over the years, ZAM has published some of the works of Otobong Nkanga, Buhlebezwe Siwani and Zanele Muholi. The exhibition features works from the collection of the AkzoNobel Art Foundation . Under the inspired leadership of Hester Alberdingk Thijm, art was acquired over the past 30 years....
How many meanings does colour have? What is its hidden power? And what do artists do with that? For readers of ZAM, the True Colours exhibition is, as far as African artists are concerned, a feast of recognition. Over the years, ZAM has published some of the works of Otobong Nkanga,...
