The history of photography and Western imperialism are closely intertwined, as the camera was long used as a tool for the subjugation and objectification. Europeans introduced photography to Africa in the mid-19th century, often taking pictures of native peoples against their will and using those images to propagandise “the white man’s burden”.
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But with the advent of the African Independence Movement during the 20th century, things began to shift as native peoples wrest control of their lands and their image. In authoring their history and contemporary life, new ideas and aesthetics came to the fore, introducing vital, innovative voices that offer new ways of considering not only the continent but the very medium of photography itself.
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“We’re in an extraordinary moment of creative flourishing when it comes to African photography,” says Ekow Eshun, author of Africa State of Mind: Contemporary Photography Reimagines a Continent (Thames & Hudson).
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https://www.huckmag.com/art-and-culture/photography-2/meet-the-new-generation-of-african-photographers/Read the Full Story at Huck
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