"This week -- for the first time ever -- a searchable collection of thousands of rare photographs chronicling Europe’s colonization of East Africa becomes available to anyone with an Internet connection anywhere in the world, thanks to the efforts of staff at Northwestern University Library." (press release)
posted by gman on Jul 1, 2009 - 12 comments

Graffiti Project in Kenya Slums — more than a year after he took the original pictures, French photo artist JR has returned to Kibera, Kenya. He was reunited with the women who had accepted to be part of his WOMEN project at the end of 2007 (previously). 2000 square meters of Kibera slum rooftops have been covered with photos of their eyes and faces. Most of the women will have their own photos on their own rooftop and the material used is water resistant so that the photo itself will protect the fragile houses in the heavy rain season. They are on view from the railway line that passes above them, and will be visible for Google Earth. (via Africa.Visual_Media)
posted by netbros on Apr 8, 2009 - 11 comments

Momentary Awe ― travel photography from more than 20 countries by Catalin Marin. [more inside]
posted by netbros on Dec 26, 2008 - 10 comments

African Kings, by Daniel Lainé
posted by stbalbach on Aug 17, 2008 - 21 comments

Women are Heroes. [more inside]
posted by chunking express on May 30, 2008 - 18 comments

Then and Now presents works from 8 South African documentary photographers - each contributes 10 photos taken during apartheid and 10 made since the democratic elections of 1994. (On display at Duke University through July 27.) [more inside]
posted by madamjujujive on Apr 13, 2008 - 12 comments

The Secret Museum of Mankind :: "Published in 1935, the Secret Museum is a mystery book. It has no author or credits, no copyright, no date, no page numbers, no index ... The tone of the commentary is dated, and uniformly racist in the extreme, often hilariously so. It reads like the patter of a carnival sideshow barker, from a time when the world was divided between "modern" Europeans and "savages" ... Presented here is the Secret Museum in its entirety, all 564 pages scanned and transcribed-- nothing is omitted or censored ... Treat it as entertainment instead of education (don't take it seriously and don't believe a word it says!), adjust for the blatant racial bias of the time, and enjoy."
posted by anastasiav on Feb 14, 2008 - 67 comments

The Young Gallery has an exceptional collection of photographs by both renowned and recently discovered photographers. The feast of visuals includes elegantly haunting images of African wildlife by Nick Brandt, Night Views of cities by Floriane de Lassée, salad vegetables by Viktor Polson, nudes and portraits by Patrick Demarchelier and images of Tibet, Mongolians and Tibetans by Richard Gere.
posted by nickyskye on Oct 27, 2007 - 8 comments

Gosu. Images from Africa
posted by taschenrechner on Jan 1, 2007 - 18 comments

Heli-Africa - Wildlife photographer Michael Poliza's photo journal from a just completed 2 month helicopter tour from Hamburg to Cape Town. These are a few samples to potentially whet the appetite.
posted by peacay on Dec 2, 2006 - 8 comments

Africa splits (Geographically speaking). Take a look at the photos, they are breathtaking.
posted by dov3 on Mar 16, 2006 - 27 comments

Faith in Chaos. Photojournalist Pep Bonet (previously mentioned in this excellent post) has won the 2005 W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography, a $30,000 prize, to support his project on post-war Sierra Leone. The W. Eugene Smith Grant was founded in 1976 to provide financial freedom to photojournalists working on long-term projects in the humane tradition of W. Eugene Smith. Past winners have included Stanley Greene, Brenda Ann Kenneally, Sebastiao Salgado, Eli Reed, Eugene Richards and Gideon Mendel. More inside.
posted by matteo on Oct 21, 2005 - 5 comments

Alex Bernasconi's (Mostly Wildlife) Photography [via MeCha]
posted by Gyan on Sep 16, 2005 - 4 comments

Fazal Sheikh's photographs have documented the plight of refugees in camps across Central and East Africa and the Middle East. However, his photographs are distinctly different from the images of refugees we commonly see in printed news articles. Sheikh's photographs implicitly assert that the individual refugees share humanity with their oppressive rulers. He does so by depicting the individuals in portraits rather than as victims of a social and political drama. Sheikh, an American citizen, was just awarded the Grand Prix International Henri Cartier-Bresson.
posted by matteo on Jun 24, 2005 - 5 comments

The 10 year long civil war in West Africa's Sierra Leone may have concluded in the last couple of years but rehabilitation of the country is painfully slow. War crime trials are under way but are underfunded and there's only scant attention paid by the western press. Naturally, the most vulnerable are at greatest risk. Pep Bonet has photographed children at the hospital for the blind, a war amputees soccer team and the rather disturbing conditions at Kissy mental hospital in Freetown. There is only space for about 150 of the estimated 50,000 people left psychotically disturbed by the war. These lucky ones are held in chains by way of treatment control. (via) [aid]
posted by peacay on May 28, 2005 - 19 comments

Polar bears of Churchill, Manitoba. Wildlife photographer Ken Bereskin has a nice collection of polar bears frolicking in the snow. This itchy bear is so frustrated, he's using the rippled ice of a frozen lake to scratch himself. If you need a change of temperature, he also has over 500 images of wildlife from Uganda and Kenya, including big cats (a mother cuddling with her cubs, a cheetah chomping down on a gazelle, and a young lioness shredding a skeleton to pieces), great apes, and other wildlife (the lowly hyena eating the cheetah's leftovers, a black-headed heron eating a venomous boomslang snake, and a scary-looking vulture taking it all in from above). He also has a smaller collection of desert wildlife from the dunes of Etoshia National Park in Namibia. (His real job is working for Apple, and he has a Panther blog that hasn't been updated in eons, but evidently that's not as much fun as chasing after hungry carnivorous animals in the sweltering heat, or risking frostbite in the snow).
posted by invisible ink on May 6, 2004 - 5 comments

The Kodak vs. the King . Images of the the Belgian Congo (aka the Congo Free State) from it's heyday under the personal rule of the very evil King Leopold. The contrast between the photographs used by Leopolds apologists and those used by his enemies (lead by the remorseless E.D. Morel) is probably unsurprising but interesting as evidence of perhaps the first propaganda war to be dominated by photography. Also, the first genocidal atrocity to be, very partially, documented photographically.

The kodak has been a sore calamity to us. The most powerful enemy that has confronted us, indeed.... Every Yankee missionary and every interrupted trader sent home and got one; and now -- oh, well, the pictures get sneaked around everywhere, in spite of all we can do to ferret them out and suppress them.

Mark Twain, King Leopold's Soliloquy

(most links go to the excellent boondocksnet site which takes as its starting point Mark Twain and his anti-imperialist campaigns and branches out most impressively from there)
posted by thatwhichfalls on Mar 20, 2004 - 6 comments

Makola Market. 'West Africa's markets are legendary and none more so than the famous Makola market in Ghana's capital, Accra. Run by powerful women traders who sell in the market, Makola is a place where you can buy anything you need - manufactured and imported foods, fresh produce, tools, medicines, shoes, pots and pans etc etc. It's also a place that's good for the soul; its humour and energy will recharge your batteries. If you aren't lucky enough to be in a West African city, you can still imagine you're there. Whether you are in New York, Paris or Sao Paolo, Johannesburg, Nairobi or Cairo, click on the link and join Ofeibea Quist Arcton on a stroll through Makola Market. It will do you good. '
Via allafrica.com's photo pages.
posted by plep on Dec 6, 2003 - 7 comments

Photos by Martin - a gem of a site for vicarious travelers, it features wonderful, charming photos and fascinating stories from a guy who quit his job three years ago to travel the world. He credits global photojournalist Steve McCurry as an influence. I am such a fan of these photo travel narratives, professional and amateur alike - has anyone else discivered some special favorites?
posted by madamjujujive on Jul 8, 2003 - 22 comments

Art & Life in Africa. A resource on African art and culture. Key Moments in Life is an interesting page which deals with different phases of life. The Peoples Index gives overviews of the different cultures. The snapshots of daily life in Mali and Burkina Faso are also worth a look.
posted by plep on Mar 7, 2003 - 7 comments

AIDS in Africa by photojournalists Gideon Mendel and James Nachtwey (flash required)
posted by gravelshoes on Dec 1, 2002 - 3 comments

African Ceremonies - Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher have been recording African tribal rituals and customs in stunning photography for the last three decades. Beckwith, a U.S. native, is an expert on the Massai and also spent three years living among the fascinating desert nomads, the Wodaabe. Fisher, an Australian native, spent nearly a decade and a half studying and recording jewelry and body adornment. For at least the last decade, they've been collaborating with spectacular results.
posted by madamjujujive on Nov 5, 2002 - 9 comments