William Matlala a (self-)portrait
Award-winning author and BBC broadcaster Zeinab Badawi will be in conversation with fellow writer Vamba Sherif about her new book, dealing with a hostory from the dawn of humanity to independence. In her new book, the Sudanese-British journalist traces the sprawling history of the African continent through the voices of Africans themselves – of countless historians, anthropologists, archaeologists and local storytellers from across more than 30 countries. ‘The history of Africa is the story of the...
Award-winning author and BBC broadcaster Zeinab Badawi will be in conversation with fellow writer Vamba Sherif about her new book, dealing with a hostory from the dawn of humanity to independence. In her new book, the Sudanese-British journalist traces the sprawling history of the...
The International Theatre Amsterdam celebrates the annual event with two amazing shows. Eight years after leaving the White House, Barack and Michelle Obama are looking for their place in society. Michelle is a bestselling author and one of the most influential Americans today. Barack travels around the world giving lectures while campaigning. But in a world of extremism and centre-right thinking, their relevance and influence are declining. Duizend aanslagen op de Obama’s is a biopic that is made...
The International Theatre Amsterdam celebrates the annual event with two amazing shows. Eight years after leaving the White House, Barack and Michelle Obama are looking for their place in society. Michelle is a bestselling author and one of the most influential Americans today....
Recently released statistics on African population growth tell a different story to what the prophets of doom want us to believe. In no other continent is population growth falling as fast as in Africa. While in 1960 African women bore an average of 6.6 children, today it is 3.8. By 2050, the annual UN report calculates, it will drop further to 2.6. The report's authors point to several reasons for this decline. Fewer children die shortly after birth, and life expectancy has been increasing. In...
Recently released statistics on African population growth tell a different story to what the prophets of doom want us to believe. In no other continent is population growth falling as fast as in Africa. While in 1960 African women bore an average of 6.6 children, today it is 3.8. By...
During the last decade of Apartheid in South Africa, William Matlala (1957) made photographs of and for the people around him. William and I met because of his contributions to a research project about cultural responses to the consequences of mining in the Witwatersrand. He took me on a tour through his life, captured on a hard drive, containing scans of negatives. I instantly fell in love with the photographs, in which the people posing present themselves as they wished to see themselves and be...
During the last decade of Apartheid in South Africa, William Matlala (1957) made photographs of and for the people around him. William and I met because of his contributions to a research project about cultural responses to the consequences of mining in the Witwatersrand. He took me...
The 8th satellete edition of the iAfrica Film Festival (iAFF) is set to take place on October 17, 2024. This special event will feature a thoughtfully curated selection of inspiring feature films, documentaries, and short films, showcasing the vibrant tapestry of contemporary African culture. The iAFF serves as a platform to highlight the immense contributions of the African continent to the world. Beyond its well-known role in providing raw materials, agricultural products, and natural resources,...
The 8th satellete edition of the iAfrica Film Festival (iAFF) is set to take place on October 17, 2024. This special event will feature a thoughtfully curated selection of inspiring feature films, documentaries, and short films, showcasing the vibrant tapestry of contemporary...
In this exhibition visual artists Amado Afdani (Sudan/Egypt) pays homage to the Sudanese soldiers who served in European colonial armies (‘askaris’). They are martyrs rather than sell outs. Askari Soldiers is one of Alfadni’s socio-political art projects on the history of the Askari (Arabic and Swahili for a military soldier). The Askari refers to the enslaved Sudanese soldier who served in the European colonial armies in Africa in the 19th and 20th centuries. During both world wars, Askaris also...
In this exhibition visual artists Amado Afdani (Sudan/Egypt) pays homage to the Sudanese soldiers who served in European colonial armies (‘askaris’). They are martyrs rather than sell outs. Askari Soldiers is one of Alfadni’s socio-political art projects on the history of the Askari...
In a new 6 part series for Dutch television, Ikenna Azuike travels through various African communities in Europe in search of the meaning of home. What do Afro-Europeans tell us about making a home? And how do you find the right balance when uniting two continents within you? Nigerian-British-Dutch Ikenna Azuike (45) has a fine career and a nice family. Yet he feels “split.” In his tv-series The Afro-European Azuike visits Somali Finns, Cape Verdean Portuguese and Congolese Belgians, among others....
In a new 6 part series for Dutch television, Ikenna Azuike travels through various African communities in Europe in search of the meaning of home. What do Afro-Europeans tell us about making a home? And how do you find the right balance when uniting two continents within you?...
Based on the theme of Belonging, Afrovibes has shaped this year’s festival programme with performances that focus on North Africa and the (north) African diaspora in the Netherlands. Northern African countries are often seen as ‘non-African’ but as belonging to the Arab world. How do artists who identify with this part of the world look frames that continue to divide us? How do we connect, engage and live in solidarity? Afrovibes opens on October 2, 2024, and runs until October 13 in Amsterdam,...
Based on the theme of Belonging, Afrovibes has shaped this year’s festival programme with performances that focus on North Africa and the (north) African diaspora in the Netherlands. Northern African countries are often seen as ‘non-African’ but as belonging to the Arab world. How...
What must happen to turn Africa’s strong population growth into prosperity for all? On the World Population in July, the United Nations’ Population Division released the 28th edition of official World Population Prospects (WPP) and forecast. It is a rich repository of population estimates from 1950 to the present for 192 countries or areas of analyses of historical demographic trends and of projections to the year 2100 that reflect a range of plausible outcomes at the global, regional and national...
What must happen to turn Africa’s strong population growth into prosperity for all? On the World Population in July, the United Nations’ Population Division released the 28th edition of official World Population Prospects (WPP) and forecast. It is a rich repository of population...
“The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” Milan Kundera Not forgetting is living, and living is not forgetting. The world's attention was focused on 9/11 when the ruler of Eritrea, President Isaias Afwerki — in power for 33 years without elections — struck hard against critics and independent media. On September 18, 2001, and in the weeks that followed, he arrested all critical members of parliament, ministers, and generals. They had asked the president to...
“The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.” Milan Kundera Not forgetting is living, and living is not forgetting. The world's attention was focused on 9/11 when the ruler of Eritrea, President Isaias Afwerki — in power for 33 years without...
African artists from the continent and the diaspora imagine utopian dreams of abundance and well-being beyond geographical hierarchies. According to the curators, the works on display show a fusion of specific features of African culture with other cultures and other geographical spaces, revealing the “original energy of the itinerant fate of exile and settlement, demanded by the context of slavery, or of voluntary or forced migration. ”Many of these phenomena result from the current global...
African artists from the continent and the diaspora imagine utopian dreams of abundance and well-being beyond geographical hierarchies. According to the curators, the works on display show a fusion of specific features of African culture with other cultures and other geographical...
In his book The Complicit Camera, photographer Pieter van der Houwen investigates how his images contributed to a (mis)understanding of Africa. This is his preface to the book. As a photographer, I have had the privilege of working in approximately twenty-five countries on the African continent. During a period of nearly thirty years, my approach to photography on this vast and complex landmass has changed as much as the continent itself: from a naïve and youthful photographer fuelled by a “white...
In his book The Complicit Camera, photographer Pieter van der Houwen investigates how his images contributed to a (mis)understanding of Africa. This is his preface to the book. As a photographer, I have had the privilege of working in approximately twenty-five countries on the...
“Collecting goes beyond the artist – it is building a universal archive of culture”. With this mission in mind, Musoke Nalwoga (Uganda, 1994) who founded MOTORMOND in 2021 aims to create an impactful Black Queer community within the African Diaspora, operating from Amsterdam. At Unseen, MOTORMOND will showcase the latest portrait series featuring Errant Black Girlhoods by Burundi born and Amsterdam based photographer Nella Ngingo (1992). Nalwoga: “At Unseen we want to shed light on the idea of...
“Collecting goes beyond the artist – it is building a universal archive of culture”. With this mission in mind, Musoke Nalwoga (Uganda, 1994) who founded MOTORMOND in 2021 aims to create an impactful Black Queer community within the African Diaspora, operating from Amsterdam. At...
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. Prize €...
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...
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....
NEWS UPDATE On Thursday 12 September, hours after the story was published, the Portuguese public broadcaster RTP dedicated a news slot to it. Portuguese speakers can listen here (from 8.55). The day after publication, Mozambique's National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) announced the arrest, in the country's port city of Beira, of a 43-year old "citizen of Chinese nationality" on accusations of money laundering, illegal exploitation of forest resources, and tax fraud. The destruction of...
NEWS UPDATE On Thursday 12 September, hours after the story was published, the Portuguese public broadcaster RTP dedicated a news slot to it. Portuguese speakers can listen here (from 8.55). The day after publication, Mozambique's National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic)...
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,...
