The Casbah of Algiers, the formidable citadel and its surrounding traditional quarter, is a testament to Algeria's rich history and an architectural marvel of immense cultural significance. It needs to be saved from falling apart. In 1992, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee declared the Casbah of Algiers a World Cultural Heritage site, acknowledging its remarkable remnants, including the citadel itself, ancient mosques, Ottoman-style palaces, and a traditional urban structure that resonates with a...
The Casbah of Algiers, the formidable citadel and its surrounding traditional quarter, is a testament to Algeria's rich history and an architectural marvel of immense cultural significance. It needs to be saved from falling apart. In 1992, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee...
Building collapses, and the tragedy of groups of survivors digging through rubble and shoving broken concrete beams to unearth relatives, friends and neighbours, have long been a familiar sight in places like Nairobi, Lagos, Dakar, and Accra. There have been hundreds of such disasters that weren’t prompted by an earthquake or flood, but were simply due to sloppy construction. Data is sparse, but the number of victims, from deaths to severe injuries to people who lost homes and livelihoods, likely...
Building collapses, and the tragedy of groups of survivors digging through rubble and shoving broken concrete beams to unearth relatives, friends and neighbours, have long been a familiar sight in places like Nairobi, Lagos, Dakar, and Accra. There have been hundreds of such...
Ugandan-born, Amsterdam-based curator and researcher Musoke Nalwoga spoke to ZAM's Anna Kućma about her recent photography exhibition, titled “Brave Beauties in Communion: Imaging Black Queer Liberation”. The exhibition is presented by Motormond, an Amsterdam art space founded and directed by Nalwoga and dedicated to circulating a critically-grounded Pan Diasporic Culture. What inspired you to create “Brave Beauties in Communion”? Brave Beauties in Communion came out of a sense of helplessness for...
Ugandan-born, Amsterdam-based curator and researcher Musoke Nalwoga spoke to ZAM's Anna Kućma about her recent photography exhibition, titled “Brave Beauties in Communion: Imaging Black Queer Liberation”. The exhibition is presented by Motormond, an Amsterdam art space founded and...
It’s a new dawn. It’s a new day at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) in Berlin. And O Quilombismo, new director Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung’s inaugural exhibition, feels good. How do you create a space free from domination, where unfamiliar cultures can see, hear, and meet one another as equals? Especially if the ground you stand on is marred by imperial and colonial ideology? The HKW’s re-opening exhibition O Quilombismo: Of Resisting and Insisting. Of Flight as Fight. Of Other Democratic...
It’s a new dawn. It’s a new day at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) in Berlin. And O Quilombismo, new director Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung’s inaugural exhibition, feels good. How do you create a space free from domination, where unfamiliar cultures can see, hear, and meet one...
An obsession with decolonisation freezes African cultures in colonial frames, Nigerian professor Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò (Cornell University) argues in a recent interview with the Dutch daily NRC. The basic principles for which Africans are immolating themselves, risking life and limb in standing up to dictatorial/authoritarian regimes and generally insisting that they, too, must be free are shared with other oppressed humanity from Denmark to Myanmar, from Eswatini to China. The discourse on decolonisation...
An obsession with decolonisation freezes African cultures in colonial frames, Nigerian professor Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò (Cornell University) argues in a recent interview with the Dutch daily NRC. The basic principles for which Africans are immolating themselves, risking life and limb in...
Arusha, the seat of the East African Community Legislative Assembly (EAC), bustles with its sleepy rhythms and cosmopolitan air. I am here to attend the 2nd Africa Drive for Democracy Conference both as a guest and speaker. The Africa Drive for Democracy Elders Retreat and Annual Conference, which took place between 17-21 July 2023 is meant to facilitate dialogue and engage grassroots movements, giving citizens an opportunity to be heard and to collaborate and innovate on strengthening democracy....
Arusha, the seat of the East African Community Legislative Assembly (EAC), bustles with its sleepy rhythms and cosmopolitan air. I am here to attend the 2nd Africa Drive for Democracy Conference both as a guest and speaker. The Africa Drive for Democracy Elders Retreat and Annual...
Movies that Matter is pleased to announce the next edition of Cinema without Borders in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The five-day workshop programme on how to organise a human rights film festival or mobile cinema project will take place from December 10 – December 14, 2023. We will bring together starting and more experienced film festival professionals from West Africa. Participants will gain practical knowledge and get fresh ideas and possibilities to strengthen their network. By exchanging...
Movies that Matter is pleased to announce the next edition of Cinema without Borders in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The five-day workshop programme on how to organise a human rights film festival or mobile cinema project will take place from December 10 – December 14, 2023. We will...
Nigerian writer Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ took the literary world by storm with her debut novel Stay With Me in 2017. Six years later, she has followed up with an equally brilliant second novel, A Spell of Good Things , which has been longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023. Just as with her first novel, A Spell of Good Things delves masterfully into the complexities of polygamy and problems with patriarchy while also exploring the corrosive effects of Nigeria’s political corruption on ordinary and,...
Nigerian writer Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ took the literary world by storm with her debut novel Stay With Me in 2017. Six years later, she has followed up with an equally brilliant second novel, A Spell of Good Things , which has been longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023. Just as with her...
The House of Guramayle , an Ethiopian LGBT QAI+ platform, condemns the recent escalation in attacks on individuals in Ethiopia based on their real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity. In the last two weeks alone, House of Guramayle and LGBTQIA+ activists have documented over a dozen TikTok videos displaying pictures of people who may or may not identify as LGBTQIA+, including those who live in Ethiopia. Violence against those individuals - killing, burning, beating - is being...
The House of Guramayle , an Ethiopian LGBT QAI+ platform, condemns the recent escalation in attacks on individuals in Ethiopia based on their real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity. In the last two weeks alone, House of Guramayle and LGBTQIA+ activists have...
The winning projects of the CAP Prize were announced on 7 July 2023 during the opening week of Les Rencontres de la Photographie in Arles, France. This year marks the 12th edition of the prize. The jury of twenty photography industry professionals selected these exciting and thoughtful series by photographers engaging with the African continent and its diaspora. The awarded stories, in alphabetical order, are: Hond (2023) by Nadia Ettwein “ I was told my mother threw me away like a dog – I’ve never...
The winning projects of the CAP Prize were announced on 7 July 2023 during the opening week of Les Rencontres de la Photographie in Arles, France. This year marks the 12th edition of the prize. The jury of twenty photography industry professionals selected these exciting and...
How the killing of a Cameroonian journalist silenced investigations into plunder by an internationally-connected elite, eliminated a rival for the succession of an ageing president, and sidelined a tax director. A dossier full of bank slips, payment instructions, and tables of sums amounting to tens of millions of dollars, printed by government printers and handed to a journalist, became the downfall of an upstart candidate who had been positioned as a possible successor to ageing autocrat...
How the killing of a Cameroonian journalist silenced investigations into plunder by an internationally-connected elite, eliminated a rival for the succession of an ageing president, and sidelined a tax director. A dossier full of bank slips, payment instructions, and tables of sums...
The Columbia Journalism Review recently published a report on the ZAM and NAIRE 'Arizona Project' that investigated the murder of journalist Martinez Zogo in Cameroon. With the CJR's permission, we are republishing it below: In January, Martinez Zogo, the director of the Cameroonian radio station Amplitude FM, was found dead near Yaoundé, the capital . His body reportedly showed signs of torture: his foot was broken, several of his fingers had been cut off, and his tongue was deformed. A few weeks...
The Columbia Journalism Review recently published a report on the ZAM and NAIRE 'Arizona Project' that investigated the murder of journalist Martinez Zogo in Cameroon. With the CJR's permission, we are republishing it below: In January, Martinez Zogo, the director of the Cameroonian...
De eerste keer dat ik Ouologuems roman Le devoir de violence in het Engels las, schrok ik van de woede en de ongeremdheid waarmee hij zijn verhaal optekende. Maar tegelijkertijd kwam zijn stijl, de vernuftige manier van schrijven, me bekend voor, alhoewel ik dat niet meteen kon verklaren. Ik had het boek bij toeval ontdekt, in een antiquariaat in Eindhoven, tus- sen boeken die niks te maken hadden met Afrika, in een alfabetisch opgesteld rijtje romans, zoals je dat in boekhandels of bibliotheken...
De eerste keer dat ik Ouologuems roman Le devoir de violence in het Engels las, schrok ik van de woede en de ongeremdheid waarmee hij zijn verhaal optekende. Maar tegelijkertijd kwam zijn stijl, de vernuftige manier van schrijven, me bekend voor, alhoewel ik dat niet meteen kon...
A new exhibition at the Tate Modern celebrates the dynamic landscape of photography across the African continent and intends to “reclaim the continent’s histories and reimagine its place in the world.” Since the invention of photography in the 19th century, Africa has been broadly defined by Western images of its cultures and traditions. During the colonial period, photography was used as a tool to construct the representation of African societies through a Eurocentric lens. Challenging these...
A new exhibition at the Tate Modern celebrates the dynamic landscape of photography across the African continent and intends to “reclaim the continent’s histories and reimagine its place in the world.” Since the invention of photography in the 19th century, Africa has been broadly...
Understanding Black queer liberation through photography. This exhibition presents the works of DeLovie Kwagala, Daniel Obasi, Keren Lasme, Nella Ngingo and Stephen Tayo - photographers from Kampala, Lagos, New, York, Abidjan and Amsterdam. The event aims to initiate a nuanced conversation about the imagery of Black queer communities in Africa and the diaspora. The exhibition is curated by Musoke Nalwoga (c) cyborgtruffel and organised by Motormond, an Amsterdam-bases non for profit art space....
Understanding Black queer liberation through photography. This exhibition presents the works of DeLovie Kwagala, Daniel Obasi, Keren Lasme, Nella Ngingo and Stephen Tayo - photographers from Kampala, Lagos, New, York, Abidjan and Amsterdam. The event aims to initiate a nuanced...
In a new exhibition, the South African visual activist Zanele Muholi honours the 21 teenagers who lost their lives in the Enyobeni Tavern tragedy, one year ago in East London. "I could only imagine the number of blankets and the mothers whose bodies were covered with blankets simply because they were mourning the death of their children," said acclaimed SA artist Zanele Muholi at their new exhibition at Southern Guild in Cape Town. The Enyobeni Tavern is a two-storey building located in Scenery...
In a new exhibition, the South African visual activist Zanele Muholi honours the 21 teenagers who lost their lives in the Enyobeni Tavern tragedy, one year ago in East London. "I could only imagine the number of blankets and the mothers whose bodies were covered with blankets simply...
Since independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has in some ways become like Animal Farm . Like the pigs in the classic 1945 novel by English writer George Orwell , the country’s post-liberation leaders have hijacked a revolution that was once rooted in righteous outrage. In Zimbabwe, the revolution was against colonialism and its practices of extraction and exploitation. The lead characters in Animal Farm have the propensity for evil and the greed for power found in despots throughout history, including...
Since independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has in some ways become like Animal Farm . Like the pigs in the classic 1945 novel by English writer George Orwell , the country’s post-liberation leaders have hijacked a revolution that was once rooted in righteous outrage. In Zimbabwe, the...
At the end of May, news spread that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni had signed a law that includes draconian new measures targeting the LGBTI community, including life imprisonment and the death penalty. International condemnation was swift, including by the Netherlands. Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Schreinemacher announced the immediate suspension of law enforcement programmes amounting to some €25 million, and that further measures were being looked at. In an...
At the end of May, news spread that Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni had signed a law that includes draconian new measures targeting the LGBTI community, including life imprisonment and the death penalty. International condemnation was swift, including by the Netherlands. Minister...
From Amsterdam to Middelburg to Utrecht to Amersfoort and onwards. Sites of Memory continues to take the hidden and under-represented stories of a shared cultural heritage of the Netherlands and the former colonies to the streets. Friday, June 16 was the première of the first ever performances from the groups’s latest performance series, Free to be Free. Starting from Amersfoort’s Sint Aegtenkapel and ending at the Koppelpoort, the public was taken on a journey through space and time to unravel...
From Amsterdam to Middelburg to Utrecht to Amersfoort and onwards. Sites of Memory continues to take the hidden and under-represented stories of a shared cultural heritage of the Netherlands and the former colonies to the streets. Friday, June 16 was the première of the first ever...
In June and July, two special works from the ZAM Art Collection are on view. The Amsterdam Zuid-Afrika Huis is kindly hosting the works by Anton Corbyn & Berend Strik (Mandela Landscape) and patricia kaersenhout (Ode to Winnie. A Portrait of Love & Revolution). The right to sell an edition of signed and numbered prints with some of the most imaginative fighters for justice in South Africa were kindly donated to ZAM, as a gesture of appreciation for the organisation’s efforts to tell another, urgent...
In June and July, two special works from the ZAM Art Collection are on view. The Amsterdam Zuid-Afrika Huis is kindly hosting the works by Anton Corbyn & Berend Strik (Mandela Landscape) and patricia kaersenhout (Ode to Winnie. A Portrait of Love & Revolution). The right to sell an...
When writing, I suffer from tunnel vision: lose awareness of everything but the story. However, in the peaceful thinking space that appears once the novel has been welcomed into a publishing house, it is possible to reflect on what has taken place over the last eleven months. I remember a flash, its source some point deep within. Followed by a scene, its unsaturated colours demand attention. Impatient questions ask: Who? Where? How? Another writer begins that journey. This time, I descend towards...
When writing, I suffer from tunnel vision: lose awareness of everything but the story. However, in the peaceful thinking space that appears once the novel has been welcomed into a publishing house, it is possible to reflect on what has taken place over the last eleven months. I...
