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- Convenor:
-
Victoria Osei-Bonsu
(University of Ghana)
Send message to Convenor
- Format:
- Panel
- Stream:
- Images of the living and dead
- Location:
- Room 1221
- Sessions:
- Thursday 9 June, -
Time zone: Europe/Berlin
Short Abstract:
The tendency by some Western "experts" to be dismissive of artistic and critical works produced by Africans and about the African socio-cultural milieu is quite inescapable. This calls for deeper deliberation and re-engagement about the issues of representation from Western hegemonic perspectives.
Long Abstract:
'I don't want to see pictures from Africa,' […] 'I've been looking at them my entire career. It's too much poverty and propaganda.' At first, I was too embarrassed to speak, but then I grew angry. Were all African stories the same to her? Did they not have value? Because those were the stories I wanted to tell.
(Humans of New York, September 1, 2021: Paul Hinson Exposé)
In a Facebook post on the Humans of New York page, a young Ghanaian photographer tells his story about how his collection of photographs about Africa[ans] was dismissed as boring and redundant after a cursory glance because, according to the evaluating 'expert', such depictions always showcased "poverty and propaganda." However, the collection included many rich and vibrant recollections from the young man's life, cultural background, and adventures across several African spaces. After this rejection, the Western 'expert' then displays a collection of photos from her own life, staged within a Eurocentric milieu. Thus, this exhibition of the life of a Western subject is set up as the example of 'good' photography and a counterpoint to any depiction of Africa[ns]. Such tendency to dismiss the validity of representation of Africa[ns] continues to engender academic discussions about the ethics of representation, within photography, film, or literature.
This panel invites papers from multidisciplinary fields of study that present diverse perspectives of representation regarding Africa[ns].
We look forward to receiving proposals that emphasize compelling comparisons/ discussions about the value, ethics, legitimacy, etc. of objective ideological representation.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 9 June, 2022, -Paper short abstract:
The paper discusses the PhotoCovidZambia project, which explores decolonial photographic making methods during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fourteen Zambian photographers are reimag(in)ing affective visual responses to COVID-19 by countering propagandistic visuals of previous pandemics in the global South
Paper long abstract:
The documentation of poor health in colonial subjects was a sub-genre of British colonial propaganda apparatus, in which the camera was an indispensable tool. The resulting images established a visual cannon that still visually informs our understanding of pandemics in the Global South today. When in 2020 COVID-19 swept around the world, the pandemic provided a unique opportunity to develop the photographic project PhotoCovidZambia, which aimed to counter this prevailing, image-based pandemic narrative.
In collaboration with the Zambian National Visual Arts Council, we brought together fourteen photographers interested in intellectually engaging with the making process and developing an alternative visual vocabulary for a pandemic on the continent. Embracing slow methodology and affect theory, we encouraged weekly conversations, which became a method of investigation in themselves. The project allowed the participants to challenge the othering of suffering experienced in previous pandemics that swept through Zambia.
The paper examines previous representations of pandemics and the profound impact these historic images had on the photographers and the photographed communities. By focusing on visual affect, the photographers generate a new and deeper understanding of the importance of reimag(in)ing illness and disease through personal practices. The new images skilfully break the links to the colonial gaze of the African pandemic photographs. Their images no longer claim to represent Zambia during a pandemic. Instead, they acknowledge the individual experience of the artists and invite a multiplicity of access points.
The PhotoCovidZambia project has been running uninterrupted since April 2020.
Paper short abstract:
What is an Afropolitan identity? How does a hybridized identity provide the subject the tools to merge a mix of influences in a "third space"; a "newness that enters the world"? This paper will look at particular conversations on the representation of the African identity through fashion.
Paper long abstract:
Afrocentric fashion is a predominant feature amongst Afropolitans and signifies that being fashionable and cosmopolitan in the African context is not about mimicking or desiring Western styles but about representing the multiple ties and spaces that they represent. Since clothing has always been a signifier and a medium to negotiate the differences and similarities between cultures, this paper puts to the fore an Afropolitan fashion that is heavily employed to promote African-inspired fashion in relation to the politics of identity that they are confronted with as transnational citizens.
Afropolitan fashion represents "authentic creativity that comes from the motherland" but that which is situated in a diasporic context. I put in conversation a historical overview of Parisian fashion and German fashion mode, and the reciprocal perspectives these geographical locations have on global fashion. The European fashion houses have experienced a movement that borrows heavily from the African continent and materials for inspiration for their works. I discuss the importance of the African wax print in relation to a general Afrocentric fashion ideology. I then narrow it down to the impact that the versatility of the wax print has on the new definition of an Afrocentric fashion. I also explore the innovations, the changing roles, and the meaning of historical yet contemporary dress with reference to the representation of the Afropolitan identity. This paper highlights the trope of cultural hybridity, cohesion of designs, and the reimagination of identities while speaking of a diasporic identity.
Paper short abstract:
There is an exceedingly rich but less consensual iconographic route to sourcing and reconstituting the social history of the Nso in Cameroon.
Paper long abstract:
Recent decades have undressed a flourishing interest on photography as an expression of meanings beyond images. This study examines the centrality of photographs as repository of social memories in the Nso Fondom of Cameroon. The research based on qualitative analytical method, relies on primary (mainly oral) and secondary sources. The findings reveal that, the incredible photo archives of amateur, private and state sponsored photographers as well as unclassified host of pictures in different locations in Nso and beyond, stands as classic historical evidences to reconstitute the social memory of the Nso people. While the photographs quickly represent meaningful social performances within the Nso community, their interpretations sometimes do not convey the same narratives. The paper seeks to find out why in spite of visible photographic evidences, pictures still do not enjoy consensual appropriation with regards to placing meaning in time and space. Beside these interpretative worries, the study is also concerned with the choices photographers make in capturing social scenes and how these representations are later reproduced to align with the original imaging ideas.
Paper short abstract:
Africa hosts many astronomical observatories that take advantage of optimal observing conditions (dark, high & dry). There is an absence of images capturing these scientific endeavours & their discoveries. The audience is invited to view the film 'SKA≥Karoo Radio Telescope' before the presentation.
Paper long abstract:
Africa hosts many astronomical observatories that take advantage of optimal observing conditions, which include dark skies that are remote enough to not suffer from light pollution or radio pollution, high in altitude to reduce the amount of atmosphere that the light has to travel through, and dry so that a minimal number of days and nights are lost due to rain, cloud cover or bad weather. These observatories bring into focus the details of the celestial realm which cannot be seen with normal human eyes. The image of Africa as a place without science and scientists persists. Films, photographs and other images of Africa rarely if ever feature the ground-breaking science taking place such as their many astrophysics discoveries. Through a series of media efforts, the author has been foregrounding astronomy and astrophysics in Africa, as part of making new images telling this science story. The audience is invited to view the film 'SKA≥Karoo Radio Telescope' before the presentation (see https://youtu.be/ly3shX2qRuI). This presentation will include video clips highlighting the importance of these observatories to Africans, with a focus on the largest radio telescope in the world currently under construction in South Africa the Square Kilometre Array.