Africa Is a Country

Found Objects No. 17

Found Objects No. 17

By
Tom Devriendt

‘Mr. Mkhize’ is a short documentary of a three-month journey photographers Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin undertook in 2003, commissioned by the South African government. What makes it remarkable is not just the silence in between the portraits, usually reserved for a photography exhibition’s catalogue, but also the fact that some parts in the series (some of them very intimate) seem to carry the subjects that were later picked up by other (South African) photographers (such as in Pieter Hugo’s The Bereaved, Jodi Bieber’s Real Beauty, or Mikhael Subotzky’s Beaufort West and Ponte City).

Further Reading

No one should be surprised we exist

The documentary film, ‘Rolé—Histórias dos Rolezinhos’ by Afro-Brazilian filmmaker Vladimir Seixas uses sharp commentary to expose social, political, and cultural inequalities within Brazilian society.

Kenya’s stalemate

A fundamental contest between two orders is taking place in Kenya. Will its progressives seize the moment to catalyze a vision for social, economic, and political change?

More than a building

The film ‘No Place But Here’ uses VR or 360 media to immerse a viewer inside a housing occupation in Cape Town. In the process, it wants to challenge gentrification and the capitalist logic of home ownership.