A few days ago this sign appeared on one of Abengourou's main street, announcing the pre-selection for Miss Côte d'Ivoire. I have no idea when the competition will actually take place, or how the selection process works, but I'll keep an eye out for the Abengourou representative. And I think it's a nice touch the sign is right next to the main mosque, creating an interesting juxtaposition.
On Sunday I was invited to eat fish and attieké, ground cassava, (see a photo of the meal in this post) by a lovely friend of a friend named Raïsa. She was wearing a tailor-made dress that my expat friend and I admired, and since I have a few fabrics in need of inspiration to take to the tailor, I asked Raïsa to take a picture of her outfit. She happily obliged, and she enjoyed being in front of the camera so much that she decided to model some of her other tailor-made dresses for us. Such as this one:
Or this one:
Or this other one:
As you can see, Raïsa is a natural with the camera. I think she could have spent hours trying poses and changing dresses. In the end, she gave us a little Ivorian dance lesson while wearing a Rihanna outfit (her words):
She hopelessly tried to show us how to shake our asses properly while showing us a few Ivorian dance moves, which made for a few good laugs. In my case, though, I'm afraid this is a lost cause as I'm extremely intimidated to dance here. In between giggles she made us promise to go dancing with her and her friends next weekend. I hope I'll survive.
Now that I have a faster internet connection and a bit of time on my hands as it's too cold for me to enjoy doing anything outside the house, I find myself browsing through photographer's websites that I had been bookmarking for months. Here are a few of South Africa that I particularly enjoyed, mostly because they show very different sides of the country.
This is how he defines himself in his website:
When I was child I asked my grandmother, whilst walking back from 'goga metse', "what was on the moon? She replied, "an old woman with a bucket of water on her head walking back home with a child." I still believe that to this day. Her name is Sinah Ntholi Nkoane and I am that child.I am lebogang nkoane. I am merely exploring photography.
Btw, you can also follow him on Twitter at @LTDN (which is how I found his photography in the first place).
I don't really know much about this photographer, only that I think he's based in Johannesburg and that he has amazing abstract compositions that remind me of cubist painters like Mondrian.
This Johannesburg-based photographer became famous for her series of portraits of black lesbians which she started in 2007, challenging the public's perceptions of female and male identity. She then continued with a series of intimate scenes of the domestic life of black lesbian couples in South Africa, such as the triptych below.
Another Johannesburg-based photographer, but again with a completely different style. In this case, the series that gave him popularity was Invisible Women, of women cleaning the inner city of Johannesburg which he photographed over an eight-month period at night between 11pm and 3.30am.
More recently he showed a series titled Men Only, focusing on the George Goch hostel on the East Rand of Johannesburg built in 1961 to house migrant mineworkers. Only men are allowed in such hostels, and in the collective imaginary they are places of violence, sexual abuse and illegal trafficking. They are also places where the legacy of apartheid is still clearly evident, despite the gains of the past 15 years of democracy. Mlangeni says:
It is these imaginings that led me to photograph life in these buildings, going beyond the stereotypes and trying to capture the normality that exists in an abnormal, unnatural situation.' Men's hostels are not easily approachable places, both practically and visually, and, Mlangeni says, 'my curiosity and maleness weren't enough to gain me access to this private world'. It took him two years to develop the trust and familiarity needed to show the residents' lives with honesty and clarity.
Veleko became popular thanks to her Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder, a series of bold, funky street fashion portraits providing a contemporary face to South Africa.
This is what this Cape Town-based photographer says about himself:
Extremely verastile and adaptable photographer with an easy way with people.My goal is to change the way people see their differences and what makes them unique.
To travel the world and show new and exciting perspectives on the planet we live on.
I'm fascinated by African markets. So the other day I went to the main market in Abengourou with my camera and took tons of photos of the many products sold there: the meat, the dried fish, the live crabs, the chili peppers, the mashed peanuts, the dried okras and the kola nuts. But amongst that bounty of wonders, I noticed these lady's braids as she was handing out some fish. Aren't they fabulous?
The first time I went to Congo, I remember noticing a couple of gentlemen wearing extremely elegant and expensive-looking suits on the flight from Paris to Kinshasa. Both the colors and the cut were old-fashioned, and they were wearing long-sleeve shirts, vests, jackets, hats and all despite the sticky heat awaiting us as soon as we landed. Back then I had no idea they were probably sapeurs, or members of the famous society of well-dressed people called Sape.
Although the origin of the word and of the movement is somewhat unclear, it seems that it originated in Congo Brazzaville quite a long time ago as a result of French colonisation.
This is how Héctor Mediavilla Sabaté, a Spanish photographer that has been photographing sapeurs in both Congos since 2003, explains these origins:
The arrival of the French to the Congo, at the beginning of the 20th Century, brought along the myth of Parisian elegance among the Congolese youth working for the colonialists. Many considered the white man to be superior because of their technology, sophistication and elegance. In 1922, G.A. Matsoua was the first–ever Congolese to return from Paris fully clad as an authentic French gentleman, which caused great uproar and much admiration amongst his fellow countrymen. He was the first Grand Sapeur.Respected and admired in their communities, today’s sapeurs see themselves as artists. Their refined manners and impeccable style in their attire bring a little glamour to their humble surroundings.
The famous musician Papa Wemba, who often visited Brazzaville, became fascinated by the sapeurs and their ways. It was him who made popular and gave an international dimension to the Sape phenomenon in the 60’s with his songs. This was probably a reaction to Mobutu's authenticité efforts, which culminated in the Zairianisation between 1972 and the 1990's which involved imposing more traditional outfits and therefore banning the Western suit (instead men were expected to wear the abacost).
Although I didn't see very many sapeurs on the streets of Kinshasa, I have to concede that like many articles on the sapeurs point out, Congolese are proud to be among the most elegant people in Africa (and abroad, I might add). I suspect the sapeurs are really a dying breed, at least in the way described in this article that started Western media's fascination with the sape, or on Mediavilla's photo statement. I guess that's why there's now a whole book to enjoy more pictures of sapeurs titled Gentlemen of Bacongo by Italian photographer Daniele Tamagni [H/T Mister Crew]. And also an exhibition on the book at the London Newcastle Project Space, London, as part of Photomonth from 19-29th November 2009.
One of Papa Wemba's musicians, King Kester Emeneya, is quoted as saying "The white man may have invented clothes, but we turned it into an art" and looking at sapeurs we can only agree with him.
All photos by Daniele Tagni, from the book Gentlemen of Bacongo
[Previous Afrilinks can be found here]
Nadytch, who writes a blog about advertising and communication in Côte d'Ivoire [in French], asks Is black awful? after observing the everlasting presence of skin-lightening commercials. Her post has sparked quite an interesting debate [in French, hello Google Translate] on why these products remain popular in African society.
On the topic of skin whitening products, A Bombastic Element posted a video by AFP about their popularity in France among African diaspora communities although their sale is banned.
Since I linked to a post in French and one in English on that topic, here's are a couple more in Spanish written here over a year ago: Ser blanco es tan ideal and Requisito: blanquitud which has a video in English about skin whitening in India.
While skin bleaching creams are still popular among some African women and commercials tell women that lighter skin is more desirable, at the same time albinos are murdered for their body parts. What a paradox.
Speaking of ignorance, Ghetto Radio collected a couple of videos on Stupid questions people ask about Africa. It's funny but sad at the same time because it's so true.
On a lighter note, here's a cool photoset of Malian hairdos at Journal du Mali.
![[Afrilinks 12] Skin whitening & ignorance](/img/box/880.jpg)
About two weekends ago I attended Africa Rising, a party at a new art gallery in San Francisco called Project One described in their website in a way that immediately made me want to go:
Africa’s rich cultural heritage has produced some of the most flavorful food, rhythmic music, and vibrant art in existence. The continent’s influence on other cultures has been profound; there are very few corners of the world which have not been touched in some way by Africa.If you’ve dreamed about Africa but haven’t yet visited the Motherland, you are invited to sample a spectrum of the best the Diaspora has to offer at “Africa Rising,” a new event combining food, music, art, and fashion – all with an African theme.
The blog Stuff white people like humorously described San Francisco as an ideally diverse city with its perfect balance of whites, Asian and gays. And the truth is that I had oftentimes wondered about the African Diaspora in this area, as it all seemed to be concentrated in the US East coast. So this event was the perfect opportunity to finally find out about the African community in the Bay area, and it didn't disappoint me.
The food was provided by Africa Radio & Kitchen, a popular nomadic restaurant by charismatic chef Eskender Aseged who is originally from Ethiopia. His food is inspired by old world recipes of Mediterranean and Red Sea countries, but there's something about him and his way of seeing food and people that struck me as essentially African. He served the food at the gallery himself, and he took the time to talk passionately about food to everybody that he saw eating, for example about his project to bring a certain type of cheese from Mauritania to San Francisco. He also told us about his vegetable garden in his city apartment, which made me really curious.
On the walls there were all sorts of interesting artwork, such as paintings by Nigerian-born Francis Simeni or an African inspired fashion exhibit by David Timehin who is also half Nigerian. Later on he also had a little fashion show with some of his designs, under his label ican iam (you can see pictures of some of his designs in this post).
I should say that the Project One Gallery is not only an art gallery, but also a lounge bar, with a comfy sitting area, a dancing space and of course, a cocktail bar. So the music was a very important part of the evening. Even more so since the main organizer of the event was Maisha Productions, an entertainment company co-founded by two musicians: Jeremiah Kpoh and Sila Mutungi.
Jeremiah Kpoh is an ecclectic DJ originally from Liberia and Sila Mutungi, who is from Kenya, is the leader of the band Sila and the Afrofunk Experience (I highly recommend to visit their website and to start enjoying their music there). In addition to the Maisha Productions duo, another musician made the attendees vibrate: British-Nigerian singer Siji, who was displaying a cool Cleveland vs. Lagos t-shirt, as well as a very hipster hat as you can see in this picture.
Although I didn't stay until the end since the event was planned to last until 2am and I had to work the next day (and it probably ended even later), I had a blast. I only hope there will be more.
As a side note: while writing this post I discovered that Africa Rising is not just a descriptive common phrase to talk about the current "hotness" of Africa especially in business, but it is also the title of a book by Vijay Mahajan (you can read an excerpt published at Ode Magazine), and also the name of an interesting-looking non profit organization. This post from their blog captures a lot of what I think too:
When a Western charity makes an appeal for funds with the photo of a seemingly helpless African child, the Western donor is cast in the role of the strong, generous, and righteous person helping the lowly and needy. Strength, generosity, and righteousness are all good things, but I fear that an unrighteous pattern has developed. The West and Africa have become type-cast into strong and weak, resourceful and helpless, giver and receiver, parent and child.To cast whole continents and cultures in such starkly contrasting and fixed roles is an untruth and an injustice. There is strength in Africa, and there is resourcefulness, generosity, and righteousness. Africa Rising exists to make those strengths known, to extend their reach, and to help Westerners move beyond stereotypes of Africa to relationships with Africans.
