Eileen Perrier, a thousand small stories
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,...
While most of his iconic images have returned to South Africa, some remain in European institutions. Ernest Cole was an acclaimed apartheid-era South African photographer who died in exile in New York 34 years ago. The recent return of vintage Cole images to South Africa from Sweden needs to be seen in the context of a recent wave of repatriation of valuable African heirlooms. The Cole saga is not yet over, involving a tussle over rights of ownership of his remarkable legacy. This is a close-up...
While most of his iconic images have returned to South Africa, some remain in European institutions. Ernest Cole was an acclaimed apartheid-era South African photographer who died in exile in New York 34 years ago. The recent return of vintage Cole images to South Africa from Sweden...
They are from Egypt, Sudan, South Africa and the DRC and Farren van Wyk, who is also ZAM’s photo- and webeditor, is one of them. Check out the amazing photography of 4 of the 5 winners Ahmed Khirelsid, Tshepiso Moropa, Kriss Munsya and Farren van Wyk. The winners of the 13th cycle of CAP were announced on Saturday 6 July at the international photo festival Rencontres d’Arles in France. The prize is directed at photographers who engage with the African continent or its diaspora. The five winning...
They are from Egypt, Sudan, South Africa and the DRC and Farren van Wyk, who is also ZAM’s photo- and webeditor, is one of them. Check out the amazing photography of 4 of the 5 winners Ahmed Khirelsid, Tshepiso Moropa, Kriss Munsya and Farren van Wyk. The winners of the 13th cycle...
When Christian missionaries established schools in different parts of East Africa, they constructed the narrative that Black hair was unsightly, ungodly and untameable . In many postcolonial schools this still seems to be the norm. My love-hate relationship with my hair started when I was six years old and my mom chopped off my hair a few days before I joined grade one. I remember crying and pleading with her while equally asking why I couldn’t just go to school with my long hair. Eventually, she...
When Christian missionaries established schools in different parts of East Africa, they constructed the narrative that Black hair was unsightly, ungodly and untameable . In many postcolonial schools this still seems to be the norm. My love-hate relationship with my hair started when...
Read the French version here . From a one-eyed to a blind horse: How hopes for change in the Sahel turned into a nightmare For decades, villagers and city dwellers in the Sahel countries of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso had hoped for change in their “dust and pollution” riddled lives, tyrannised as they were by corrupt governments, French uranium exploitation and gangster jihadis who stole their cattle and abducted their sons. When, in the 2020s, earnest-looking military colonels and captains stood...
Read the French version here . From a one-eyed to a blind horse: How hopes for change in the Sahel turned into a nightmare For decades, villagers and city dwellers in the Sahel countries of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso had hoped for change in their “dust and pollution” riddled...
Read the French version here . “We must not replace a one-eyed horse with a blind horse” Sunday April 21, 2024 . Agadez, in central Niger, is a large urban area with houses mostly built of ochre earth. There are very few trees here in this poor town, located more than 900km northeast of the capital. In the evening, the city is full of young idlers, drug addicts, and sex workers. Many of them are migrants. “These young people come from other regions to look for gold in the desert! Unlucky and...
Read the French version here . “We must not replace a one-eyed horse with a blind horse” Sunday April 21, 2024 . Agadez, in central Niger, is a large urban area with houses mostly built of ochre earth. There are very few trees here in this poor town, located more than 900km...
Read the French version here . The disillusionment for all of us Sominé Dolo Hospital in Mopti, central Mali, Friday May 17, 2024. It is 7PM. Everything is black here. The lights are out due to the now almost continuous power cuts. The loudspeakers of the large mosque in downtown Sevaré let out the shrill cry of the muezzin calling for Maghreb evening prayers, but heads are not bent in prayer and devotion in this hospital establishment, the main health facility in the northern centre of the...
Read the French version here . The disillusionment for all of us Sominé Dolo Hospital in Mopti, central Mali, Friday May 17, 2024. It is 7PM. Everything is black here. The lights are out due to the now almost continuous power cuts. The loudspeakers of the large mosque in downtown...
Read the French version here . Brute force in the countryside and tyranny in the cities “We are not here for power. We have a twelve-month program in which we will resolve small logistical problems while respecting human values.” After Captain Ibrahim Traoré announced with these words his takeover of power in Ouagadougou on September 30, 2022, he was immediately congratulated by Yevgeny Prigozhin (then still alive), founder of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, since re-baptised the Africa...
Read the French version here . Brute force in the countryside and tyranny in the cities “We are not here for power. We have a twelve-month program in which we will resolve small logistical problems while respecting human values.” After Captain Ibrahim Traoré announced with these...
Read the English version here . D'un cheval borgne à un cheval aveugle : Comment les espoirs de changement au Sahel se sont transformés en cauchemar Pendant des décennies, les villageois et citadins des pays sahéliens du Mali, du Niger et du Burkina Faso espéraient un changement dans leurs vies « pleines de poussière et de pollution », tourmentés qu'ils étaient entre gouvernements corrompus, exploitation française de l'uranium et djihadistes gangsters qui continuaient de voler leur bétail et...
Read the English version here . D'un cheval borgne à un cheval aveugle : Comment les espoirs de changement au Sahel se sont transformés en cauchemar Pendant des décennies, les villageois et citadins des pays sahéliens du Mali, du Niger et du Burkina Faso espéraient un changement...
« Il ne faut pas remplacer un cheval borgne par un cheval aveugle » Dimanche 21 avril 2024 . Agadez, au centre du Niger, est une grande zone urbaine dont les maisons sont pour la plupart construites en terre ocre. Il y a très peu d'arbres dans cette ville pauvre, située à plus de 900 km au nord-est de la capitale Niamey. Le soir, la ville regorge de jeunes oisifs, de toxicomanes, et de travailleuses du sexe. Beaucoup d’entre eux sont des migrants. « Ces jeunes viennent d’autres régions pour...
« Il ne faut pas remplacer un cheval borgne par un cheval aveugle » Dimanche 21 avril 2024 . Agadez, au centre du Niger, est une grande zone urbaine dont les maisons sont pour la plupart construites en terre ocre. Il y a très peu d'arbres dans cette ville pauvre, située à plus de...
Read the English version here . La désillusion pour nous tous Hôpital Sominé Dolo de Mopti, centre du Mali, vendredi 17 mai 2024. Il est 19 heures. Ici, il fait sombre, les lumières sont éteintes à cause des coupures de courant désormais presque continuellement. Les haut-parleurs de la grande mosquée du centre-ville de Sevaré laissent échapper le cri perçant du muezzin appelant à la prière maghrébine du soir , mais les têtes ne semblent pas à la prière et à la dévotion dans cet établissement...
Read the English version here . La désillusion pour nous tous Hôpital Sominé Dolo de Mopti, centre du Mali, vendredi 17 mai 2024. Il est 19 heures. Ici, il fait sombre, les lumières sont éteintes à cause des coupures de courant désormais presque continuellement. Les haut-parleurs de...
