The Photographs of Mary Beth Meehan
Mary Beth Meehan, an American photographer in the U.S. northeast photographs marginal people: immigrants and poor people, both black and white.
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Friday Bonus Music Break, N°15
Fofo-born Shokanti released a video this week in celebration of Cape Verdean Independence (slipping in those famous words by Amílcar Cabral at the very end). Above. You’ve noticed our blogging went into holiday mode but there’s always time for music. So 9 more below. Brazilian Kamau’s 21/12 finally gets a video; not surprisingly it’s another […]
Africa Express: A Different Breed of Alternative Energy
Guest post by Rosie Spinks Hear the words ‘alternative energy in Africa’ and you might think of a massive solar plant somewhere in the expanse of the Sahara desert, churning out electricity courtesy of the relentless African sun without a human being in sight.
Independence Day Edition: What’s more ‘American’ than Chevron Corporation?
July 4. U.S. Day of Independence. What’s more ‘American’ than … Chevron Corporation? It’s pretty much always in the top 5 of U.S. based corporations. It’s deeply involved with everything having anything to do with energy or power. Oil, gas, geothermal. You name it, Chevron’s there, but not like a good neighbor. It’s got history, […]
In North Kivu, R&B is pure art
The text that comes with Agata Pietron’s photographs of youth in Kiwanja and Rutshuru (North Kivu, Congo) flirts with the clichés (the Conrad reference; the brave missionaries; the photographer is a “muzungu” who “discovers” youth who are into R&B and rap, wearing “Chinese made sportswear knockoffs”; and despite the “absurd” circumstances people have “strong spirits”), […]
My delicious ‘Afrigasm’
White Euro-Americans are drawn to Sub Saharan Africa by an urge to explore, do good or by a more existential desire for an encounter with radical difference.
Mozambique versus Spain
African fans retain a surprising affection for old colonizers when it comes to international tournaments. Mozambique is no exception.
Salafists and art in Tunisia
Artists wanted to comment on the political struggles and religious undercurrents roughing up Tunisian society. Religious zealots, backed by the state, shut them down.
In Sudan, women set the spark
The women of Sudan have had enough. On the evening of June 16, 2012, women dormitory residents at the University of Khartoum said, Enough is Enough. Girifna. We are disgusted; we have had enough.
African Asylum Seekers in Israel
Guest Post by Anonymous* If you follow current headlines, you may have noticed a seemingly new conflict arising in the Middle East. Recent migratory trends in Israel have led to new challenges beyond the decades long occupation of the Palestinian Territories. The tension surrounding the influx of African asylum seekers and refugees to Israel has […]
Her Zimbabwe
As the number of active female bloggers has increased, so too has the level of discourse around the dynamism and contradictions of life as a Zimbabwean woman.
Gaddafi Archives at the London Photography Festival
The ‘Gaddafi Archives – Libya Before the Arab Spring’, which opened this week at the London Festival of Photography is an embarrassment of riches. This exhibition of images recovered from the remains of Gaddafi’s archives and rephotographed by a team assembled by Human Rights Watch, opened yesterday at UCL. The first three rooms document official […]