We are pleased to announce that we have entered into a partnership with the 6th Lubumbashi Biennale in the DRC. An initiative by the Picha art centre, the Lubumbashi Biennale will bring together more than 50 artists from the DRC and elsewhere. Lubumbashi Biennale Artistic Director Sandrine Colard In artistic director’s statement, Sandrine Colard says the Biennale will explore the possibilities of repurposing the cartography of the world. “One of the seven African countries crossed by the Equator,...
We are pleased to announce that we have entered into a partnership with the 6th Lubumbashi Biennale in the DRC. An initiative by the Picha art centre,...
The Hague’s annual iAfrica Film Festival opens with Joël Karezeki’s acclaimed Second Congo War cinematographic odyssey. Mercy of the Jungle premiered last year at the Toronto International Film Festival. Male lead Marc Zinga was awarded the Étalon d’Or at this year Fespaco Film Festival in Bamako, Mali. The story: at the outbreak of the Second Congo War, Sergeant Xavier and young private Faustin are accidentally left behind in the jungle. With only each other to count on, they embark on an odyssey...
The Hague’s annual iAfrica Film Festival opens with Joël Karezeki’s acclaimed Second Congo War cinematographic odyssey. Mercy of the Jungle premiered...
African creatives will move the Mozambican capital as never before. What did the great American novelist and thinker, the late Toni Morrison mean when she said in her 1993 Nobel Prize acceptance speech: “We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.” Nairobi based Nanjala Nyabola will explore this issue in a lecture at the upcoming Maputo Fast Forward festival. The writer, independent thinker and polical analyst’s work focuses on conflict and...
African creatives will move the Mozambican capital as never before. What did the great American novelist and thinker, the late Toni Morrison mean when...
Season 6 has started at the Centre for the Less Good Idea . It’s all about labour. This year’s edition is co-curated by architect and urban designer Thiresh Govender and dancer and choreographer Sello Pesa, alongside founder William Kentridge and co-animateurs Bronwyn Lace and Phala Ookeditse Phala. This season sees traditional forms of art and performance being re-imagined through free-spirited, transdisciplinary collaboration, and the gentle exploration and reiteration of varying forms of labour....
Season 6 has started at the Centre for the Less Good Idea . It’s all about labour. This year’s edition is co-curated by architect and urban designer...
Katumba Badru Sultan’s image ‘In Her Own World' was chosen as the winning photograph of the Uganda Press Photo Award 2019. Documentary photographer and UPPA judge Jide Adeniyi-Jones simply describes the winning image: “Nothing to say. The image speaks for itself.” Judge and photojournalist Frédéric Noy also comments: “Perfect shot. The composition and contrasting bright and dark colours (luckily the girl is in red while the men are mainly in white or blue) result in a potentially homogenous looking...
Katumba Badru Sultan’s image ‘In Her Own World' was chosen as the winning photograph of the Uganda Press Photo Award 2019. Documentary photographer and...
I could have sworn that I was in my office when I read the newspaper report that triggered this book. My memory has me reading the words on the monitor on my desk, then gazing out of the window at the brickwork on the building across the road. Indeed, I cannot picture that article except on my monitor, and I cannot separate my first thoughts about it from the view of the brickwork. They are forever fused. When I return to the article I am astonished to learn that it was published on 31 December...
I could have sworn that I was in my office when I read the newspaper report that triggered this book. My memory has me reading the words on the monitor...
… In that Empire, the Art of Cartography attained such Perfection that the map of a single Province occupied the entirety of a City, and the map of the Empire, the entirety of a Province. In time, those Unconscionable Maps no longer satisfied, and the Cartographers Guilds struck a Map of the Empire whose size was that of the Empire, and which coincided point for point with it. The following Generations, who were not so fond of the Study of Cartography as their Forebears had been, saw that that vast...
… In that Empire, the Art of Cartography attained such Perfection that the map of a single Province occupied the entirety of a City, and the map of the...
How black bodies move from pain to healing and thrive as centres of joy The seventh Ake Arts and Book Festival held over four days at the end of October in Lagos, Nigeria, draws hundreds of people to book readings, poetry performances, panel discussions, art exhibitions, films and more. The festival prides itself as the largest in Africa; and for the first time since its inception in 2013, it is funded in the main by an indigenous Nigerian company – a milestone founder Lola Shoneyin is proud of....
How black bodies move from pain to healing and thrive as centres of joy The seventh Ake Arts and Book Festival held over four days at the end of October...
The seventh Ake Arts and Book Festival was a space for transformative dialogue, as demonstrated in a conversation between Mona Eltahawy and Fakhrriyyah Hashim, which took place on the last day of the festival. An Egyptian-American feminist and author based in New York, Eltahawy has been an Ake Festival favourite for some years now, and has garnered a considerable following in Nigeria, particularly among young women. She was appearing at this year’s edition, as part of her Feminist Giant World Tour,...
The seventh Ake Arts and Book Festival was a space for transformative dialogue, as demonstrated in a conversation between Mona Eltahawy and Fakhrriyyah...
The winners of PRIDE PHOTO AWARD, an annual international contest for photos about sexual and gender diversity, were announced last Friday, November 1, 2019, in Amsterdam. Here they are: This is the winning picture by Seungwook Yang (South Korea): two identical superhero action figures, posed as if they are kissing, on a colourful flower-print cloth, reminds us of acting out romantic fantasies as a child. Using two male superheros, the photographer subtly hints at LGBT children being heroes...
The winners of PRIDE PHOTO AWARD, an annual international contest for photos about sexual and gender diversity, were announced last Friday, November 1,...
Sammy Baloji, George Senga, Daddy Tshikaya, Musasa and Jean Katambu are amongst the DRC artists exploring the most important resource for ‘green energy’, lithium. But why are local communities neglected? A series of new individually and collectively made artworks are part of this project involving the Amsterdam-based Cargo in Context and Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond in collaboration with the Thami Mnyele Foundation and Amsterdam Art Weekend, the Lubumbashi Biennal, Galerie Imane Farès...
Sammy Baloji, George Senga, Daddy Tshikaya, Musasa and Jean Katambu are amongst the DRC artists exploring the most important resource for ‘green energy’,...
One of the most moving films at the upcoming international documentary festival tells the story of witchcraft. This Kenyan production, directed by Christopher King and Maia Lekow, tells the shocking story of Karisa’s grandmother who is accused of witchcraft. He travels from Mombasa to her rural home to find out who’s behind it. It turns out that the threatening letter his grandmother received came from a member of his own family. Karisa’s conversations with his relatives reveal how his uncles are...
One of the most moving films at the upcoming international documentary festival tells the story of witchcraft. This Kenyan production, directed by...
A video impression by Juul van der Laan of the event A tribute to Binyavanga Wainaina hosted at Studio ZAM on 24 October 2019. Paying tribute to the great Kenyan writer, famous for his essay How to Write About Africa , the event featured presentations by Ayò Adéné, Ama Van Dantzig, Kiza Magendane and Vamba Sherif. Watch the highlights from the event here.
A video impression by Juul van der Laan of the event A tribute to Binyavanga Wainaina hosted at Studio ZAM on 24 October 2019. Paying tribute to the...
Using his pen as a weapon against injustice and a tool to express his love for life. The ZAM Team is saddened by the passing of South African poet, journalist and activist Sandile Dikeni at the age of 53. Dikeni suffered from tuberculosis. In 2001, Dikeni took part in the documentary Korreltjie Niks is my Dood by filmmaker Saskia van Schaik on the South African poet Ingrid Jonker. With his assistance the producers of the documentary managed to trace the sister of a child who was shot by the police...
Using his pen as a weapon against injustice and a tool to express his love for life. The ZAM Team is saddened by the passing of South African poet,...
Meet the fishermen of Sunrise Beach (False Bay, Cape Town). Elmendorp has been working and living in South Africa since the late 1980s. Her photography has been published in newspapers and magazines worldwide, including ZAM. In recent months the photographer has been following a group of fishermen who sail daily from Sunrise Beach, near Muizenberg, on the Atlantic Ocean, mainly to catch cod. An exhibition has now emerged from Elmendorp's visual research. Venue University of Cape Town’s Irma Stern...
Meet the fishermen of Sunrise Beach (False Bay, Cape Town). Elmendorp has been working and living in South Africa since the late 1980s. Her photography...
The Aké Art and Book Festival put the perspectives of female filmmakers centre stage at its seventh edition held last month in Lagos, Nigeria, giving insight into the experiences of women in film in Africa and the Diaspora. Speaking on the panel titled, ‘Roots and Representation: Black Women in Film’ were: US-based Adepero Oduye, Nollywood star Dakore Akande, and director Nadine Ibrahim. It’s all about female leads for Ibrahim, whose short film, Through Her Eyes , explores the impact of terrorism...
The Aké Art and Book Festival put the perspectives of female filmmakers centre stage at its seventh edition held last month in Lagos, Nigeria, giving...
“It can be very traumatic, very painful, to leave your home,” said Nigerian writer Helon Habila, in a conversation around his new novel, Travellers , at last month’s Ake Festival in Lagos. The first time he left home, it was to England, specifically the city of Norwich. Language was a barrier, given the regional accent in the city, located some 160 kilometres from multicultural London. “I wouldn’t even understand what they were saying. I was like, ‘Are you speaking English?’” He was similarly...
“It can be very traumatic, very painful, to leave your home,” said Nigerian writer Helon Habila, in a conversation around his new novel, Travellers , at...
South African artist Robin Rhode has created his signature in visual poems on the walls in the ancient city of Jericho. Jericho is positioned twelve kilometres north of the Dead Sea, and ten kilometres west of the river Jordan; settlement in the town dates back to 10 000 BCE. It is known as ‘The City of the Moon’, inspired by the possible roots of its name in the Canaanite word for moon, 'Yareah'. Today, Jericho finds itself in the midst of one of the most protracted geopolitical conflicts in the...
South African artist Robin Rhode has created his signature in visual poems on the walls in the ancient city of Jericho. Jericho is positioned twelve...
We are proud to annouce the speaker for the 2020 ZAM Nelson Mandela Lecture: Nigerian writer, satirist and lawyer Elnathan John. As a remarkable and dynamic voice, John is a multiple award winning author. His essays and blogs were published by The Guardian, Sunday Trust, Le Monde Diplomatique, The Economist, ZAM Magazine and Chimurenga Chronic amongst others. As an independent thinker and a witty critic of power abuse and self-aggrandizement, John (1982) is feared for his sharpness and admired for...
We are proud to annouce the speaker for the 2020 ZAM Nelson Mandela Lecture: Nigerian writer, satirist and lawyer Elnathan John. As a remarkable and...
18 African artists upend perceptions of the continent through the use of digital media and photography. NOW LOOK HERE. The African Art of Appearance showcases the works of Omar Victor Diop, Samuel Fosso and Mary Sibande amongst others. The exhibition is curated by Renny Ramakers. The participating artists are image makers who present a new visual language and identity in representation and presence by exploring irony, beauty and style. How I Want to Look Like in the Future, 2019 (c) Stephen Tayo &...
18 African artists upend perceptions of the continent through the use of digital media and photography. NOW LOOK HERE. The African Art of Appearance...
Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese’s widely applauded feature film, is part of this year’s editon of the International Film Festival Rotterdam. In a small village in Lesotho, surrounded by the mountains, 80 year old widow Mantoa awaits the return of her son, a migrant labourer working in a South African coal mine and her only surviving relative. It’s Christmas and he doesn’t show up. Messengers bring her the devastating news of her son’s passing, a victim of an accident in the mines. Distraught by the sudden...
Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese’s widely applauded feature film, is part of this year’s editon of the International Film Festival Rotterdam. In a small village...
