The winners of the photography contest POPCAP14 depict secluded young mothers, traditional elders, war survivors and children playing in the canals of a diamond mine. The individuals with scars on their faces in Joana Choumalis photographs are all old, which is why her series of portraits is called “The Last Generation”. ‘Writing’ on skin, as ritual scarification is called in Burkina Faso, used to allocate dignity and respect to the scarred person. But the practice is dying out. “This last...
The winners of the photography contest POPCAP14 depict secluded young mothers, traditional elders, war survivors and children playing in the canals of a...
Fourteen investigative journalists from ten African countries have come together to market their stories to international media. A veritable A-team of investigative journalists in West, East and southern Africa have come together to form a publishing collective that plans to knock on the doors of international media. “This is about creating a platform for our investigative stories”, says multi-award winning initiator Idris Akinbajo, from Nigeria. “There is no scarcity of news and opinion about...
Fourteen investigative journalists from ten African countries have come together to market their stories to international media. A veritable A-team of...
Lumumba's Widow is one of 200 masterpieces in Marlene Dumas new exhibition. The long awaited exhibition of Marlene Dumas has opened in Amsterdam. It is presenting around 200 of her works! We were deeply touched by ‘The Widow’, inspired by a picture of Patrice Lumumba’s widow attending the funeral of her murdered husband. Read about the making of this work here Marlene Dumas is a staunch supporter of ZAM. In 2008, she gave ZAM permission to produce and sell 250 copies of her ‘Portrait of a young...
Lumumba's Widow is one of 200 masterpieces in Marlene Dumas new exhibition. The long awaited exhibition of Marlene Dumas has opened in Amsterdam. It is...
On Saturday 1 November 2014 members of the ZAM promotional team will be present at the annual Afrika Dag (Africa Day) of the Evert Vermeer Stichting in Amsterdam. More than 800 participants are expected and receive this new, intriguing postcard from ZAM.
On Saturday 1 November 2014 members of the ZAM promotional team will be present at the annual Afrika Dag (Africa Day) of the Evert Vermeer Stichting in...
Production started! The feature 'How do you want me to look?', published in the ZAM Commemmorative Issue about Nelson Mandela, will be turned into a small exhibition. The exhibition will contain of portraits of Mandela by Dutch photographers Kadir van Lohuizen, Daniel Koning and Sander Veenemann. To be launched at Arti, the HQ of South African documentary filmmakers at IDFA.
Production started! The feature 'How do you want me to look?', published in the ZAM Commemmorative Issue about Nelson Mandela, will be turned into a...
In the aftermath of a seminar about African investigative journalism held in Amsterdam, Tobore Ovuorie and Kassim Mohamed visited ZAM. Both are acclaimed for their daring work and we were in awe listening to Kassim about his undercover work amid armed gangs in Nairobi and his investigation into the smuggling of small arms in the East African region. The world was outraged and saddened by the terrorist attack on the Nairobi Westgate shopping mall last year, but how did the arms enter Kenya? Check...
In the aftermath of a seminar about African investigative journalism held in Amsterdam, Tobore Ovuorie and Kassim Mohamed visited ZAM. Both are acclaimed...
Kenya | Traditional families in ‘little Mogadishu’ reform their ‘westernised’ children by force. A moral majority campaign is sweeping through ‘little Mogadishu’, the Somali district of Eastleigh in Nairobi, Kenya. Families force girls to wear hijab and get circumcised; boys get beaten until they at least renounce the ‘evil spirits’ that led them either to crime, drugs or same-sex relationships. Even Somali families based in the West send ‘wayward’ children home to be forcibly ‘returned to the...
Kenya | Traditional families in ‘little Mogadishu’ reform their ‘westernised’ children by force. A moral majority campaign is sweeping through ‘little...
At African Investigative Journalism Conference. Photo by Sanne Terlingen It is cold in Johannesburg, but so refreshing to see old faces. We catch up, exchange banters and briefly summarise our individual experiences in the last one year. Some of us have won journalism awards; some have done new great stories; some have moved to other media. Investigative journalism remains tough, but when you manage to publish and even begin to receive acclaim, it’s all worth it. The keynote was riveting today....
At African Investigative Journalism Conference. Photo by Sanne Terlingen It is cold in Johannesburg, but so refreshing to see old faces. We catch up,...
Together with Sabine Luning (Leiden University) ZAM editor Bart Luirink discussed recent developments in Burkina Faso and its impact on African autocracies on Dutch Radio 1 on Tuesday 4 November 9h00 PM. Listen here!
Together with Sabine Luning (Leiden University) ZAM editor Bart Luirink discussed recent developments in Burkina Faso and its impact on African...
ZAM’s investigative reporter Theophilus Abbah reports on his second day at the African Investigative Journalism Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. I was curious to know how one can use radio to do an investigative story and was therefore happy to listen to Daniel Ohman from Sweden, who showed a smart approach. Having received some classified documents on an illegal weapon factory deal between Sweden and Saudi Arabia, Ohman contacted government officials who signed the documents and recorded...
ZAM’s investigative reporter Theophilus Abbah reports on his second day at the African Investigative Journalism Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa....
In a mailing to our Chronicle readers we announced that we had three books of America/Nigerian author Teju Cole's new book ‘ Every Day is for the Thief ’ to raffle and we would now like to congratulate the winners. The winners of this giveaway are: Teun de Laat, Els Willems and Marga Vintges. ZAM will send the winners a copy of the book by snail mail. If you don't want to miss future raffles, please like our Facebook and subscribe to the Chronicle newsletter. Read a review ( in Dutch or in English...
In a mailing to our Chronicle readers we announced that we had three books of America/Nigerian author Teju Cole's new book ‘ Every Day is for the Thief ’...
Dutch Sierra Leonean Babah Tarawally has lived in fear of the Ebola virus for the past seven months. This is his diary. March 18, 2014 “Patient zero was identified as a two year old boy. He died on December 6, 2013 in Gueckedou in south-eastern Guinea. A week after his death his mother died, then his 3-year-old sister, then his grandmother. All had fever, vomiting and diarrhea, but no one knew what had sickened them.” It is an entry on a Facebook page that catches my attention. I know Gueckedou: I...
Dutch Sierra Leonean Babah Tarawally has lived in fear of the Ebola virus for the past seven months. This is his diary. March 18, 2014 “Patient zero was...
Photography, belief and truth merge at LagosPhoto How do unshakable conviction, truth and photography interact? The fifth edition of Nigeria's influential photography festival currently presents the work of forty photographers from Africa and the rest of the world. The motto: ‘Staging Reality, Documenting Fiction.’ Allowing diverse disciplines such as conceptual art, installation and theatre, the creators explore the limits that traditionally define photo-journalism. The results are gripping and...
Photography, belief and truth merge at LagosPhoto How do unshakable conviction, truth and photography interact? The fifth edition of Nigeria's...
His art was there, but artist Sammy Baloji was missing at an otherwise spectacular exhibit in London. A travelling case full of fake diamond-studded watches, paintings of city life in Abidjan, masks made of petrol cans and West African textiles bearing the silhouettes of ‘missing’ girls, were part of a spectacular selection of contemporary art at the art fair held in London’s Somerset House. The impressive event was only marred by the absence of Congolese photographer Sammy Baloji , who had not...
His art was there, but artist Sammy Baloji was missing at an otherwise spectacular exhibit in London. A travelling case full of fake diamond-studded...
A survey shows that South African whites are ahead of the Dutch in the ‘blackface’ debate. With the legacy of apartheid still hanging over their heads and generally still a privileged minority, South African whites are often seen as one of the worlds’ more ‘racist’ population groups. But when it comes to the ‘blackface’ debate, they are much more aware of its racial context than, for example, the white population of the Netherlands, where an overwhelming majority still defends the ‘Black Pete’...
A survey shows that South African whites are ahead of the Dutch in the ‘blackface’ debate. With the legacy of apartheid still hanging over their heads...
African investigative journalists navigate unchartered waters, often between rocks and other hard places. African investigative journalists have it rough. Much unloved they are by the powers that be. Not so much because they are sent to jail, or attacked, or killed, though that happens too. No, the biggest and most widespread problem is not being able to actually do your job. For starters, they can close your media house. The Premium Times team in Nigeria faced bankruptcy when the government told...
African investigative journalists navigate unchartered waters, often between rocks and other hard places. African investigative journalists have it...
There is a reason why Babah Tarawally’s mother in Sierra Leone ( read the full story in our ZAM Report ) immediately believed that Ebola was the ‘white man’s virus,’ developed by white scientists to attack ‘poor Africans’. But that reason is not that she is superstitious. Yes, she believes in witchcraft. Many poor people in countries where powerful forces beyond their control continuously affect their lives do. Powerlessness and belief in magic are connected: ask anybody who, desperate to fight...
There is a reason why Babah Tarawally’s mother in Sierra Leone ( read the full story in our ZAM Report ) immediately believed that Ebola was the ‘white...
A new ZAM exhibition was launched during an encounter last Friday of South African filmmakers and producers in the basement of the Dutch Cultural Media Fund. This get-together was organized by ZAM together with Dutch Indies, the South African Documentary Filmmakers Association and Afrovibes . The South African documentary industry has grown substantially over the past two decades of democracy. The attendance of a delegation of makers and producers from this country at the annual International...
A new ZAM exhibition was launched during an encounter last Friday of South African filmmakers and producers in the basement of the Dutch Cultural Media...
Journalists went undercover to expose quack doctors who defraud, kill and maim their patients - and to make an urgent appeal to African governments. Quack ‘doctors’ roam free in many African countries. Their victims are those who can’t afford the expensive clinics frequented by the elite, predominantly among them desperate girls and women seeking outlawed abortions. Two investigative journalists, Anas Aremeyaw Anas (Ghana) and Rosemary Nwaebuni (Nigeria) went undercover to expose the quackery...
Journalists went undercover to expose quack doctors who defraud, kill and maim their patients - and to make an urgent appeal to African governments....
Many people attended the Amsterdam launch of Zanele Muholi's book Faces and Phases on Tuesday 9 December, a last-minute-ZAM Newsroom organised in five days. Muholi visited The Netherlands for the 2014 Prince Claus Prize Ceremony a day later on December 10, attended by the Dutch Royal Family and the Minister of Trade & Aid. Faces and Phases 2006-14 is a powerful collection portraits taken over the past eight years. It's an extensive archive of black lesbians and trans men in South Africa and beyond...
Many people attended the Amsterdam launch of Zanele Muholi's book Faces and Phases on Tuesday 9 December, a last-minute-ZAM Newsroom organised in five...
