An exhibition of contemporary African photography is on at the Tate Modern in London. This writer left not with a sense of a completed narrative, but with a feeling of energized possibility, and the rush of discovering fresh, reconfigured horizons.



How to find the common in the uncommon, the unifying oneness in a disparate whole? Can Africa’s thousands of cultures and languages ever be distilled into a comprehensible photographic representation of an entire continent’s creative impulse? This is the challenge courageously and pugnaciously accepted by the exhibition A World in Common: Contemporary African Photography running through to January 2024 at the Tate Modern gallery in London.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="683" height="1024" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Leonce-Raphael-Agbodjelou-Untitled-Egungun-series-2012.-Copyright-The-Artist.-Courtesy-Jack-Bell-Gallery-2-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-60200" style="aspect-ratio:0.6669921875;width:419px;height:auto" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Leonce-Raphael-Agbodjelou-Untitled-Egungun-series-2012.-Copyright-The-Artist.-Courtesy-Jack-Bell-Gallery-2-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Leonce-Raphael-Agbodjelou-Untitled-Egungun-series-2012.-Copyright-The-Artist.-Courtesy-Jack-Bell-Gallery-2-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Leonce-Raphael-Agbodjelou-Untitled-Egungun-series-2012.-Copyright-The-Artist.-Courtesy-Jack-Bell-Gallery-2-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Leonce-Raphael-Agbodjelou-Untitled-Egungun-series-2012.-Copyright-The-Artist.-Courtesy-Jack-Bell-Gallery-2-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Leonce-Raphael-Agbodjelou-Untitled-Egungun-series-2012.-Copyright-The-Artist.-Courtesy-Jack-Bell-Gallery-2-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Leonce-Raphael-Agbodjelou-Untitled-Egungun-series-2012.-Copyright-The-Artist.-Courtesy-Jack-Bell-Gallery-2-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou, Untitled (Egungun series), 2012. Copyright The Artist. Courtesy Jack Bell Gallery </figcaption></figure></div>


“African photography is recognizable, to those aware of the history of studio portraiture, or of the way Africa is portrayed in documentary photography,” says the exhibition’s curator, Osei Bonsu. “But I was interested in all of the ways in which artists, particularly over the last 10 to 15 years, had completely blown open the perception of what African photography might be; ways that challenged and confounded many of those assumptions about the relationship between photography and the continent. So it was less about this idea of an overarching survey, as this slightly amorphous and impossible-to-define area of activity, and more about locating multiple perspectives that would come together to illuminate some of the key topics and ideas that these artists are engaged with.”



The result is a dizzying whistle-stop tour across three thematic territories: Identity and Tradition, Counter Histories, and Imagined Futures. The viewer is thus drawn and signposted through the exhibition aboard imaginative platforms, rather than the formal conventions of a linear retrospective, in a sort of taster menu of African inspiration: Hassan Hajjaj’s kinetic fusions of fashion photography and the roadside kiosk; Leonce Raphael Agbodjélou’s arrestingly charismatic portraits of quasi-monstrous Yoruba ‘Egungun’ costumes; Mário Macilau’s monochrome double-takes on the horrors of photojournalism; the serenely melodramatic staging of Maïmouna Guerresi’s scenes of prosaic ritual. The exhibition closes with an immersive video installation by Julianknxx, featuring a hypnotic, thrumming dance sequence, shot like a communiqué from a viridescent African Atlantis.



A consistent identifiable dichotomy arose during the exhibition’s research phase, between the commercial bread and butter of the photographers’ everyday practice and the more experimental work they had developed. 



“These artists embraced photography in ways that undermine or question some of the colonial or exoticizing assumptions around the relationship between African peoples and the photographic medium. This ‘B-roll’, the flip side of what they were doing, was much more subversive than their commercial work,” Bonsu says. 



“And what that revealed is that this idea of the split between the conceptual and the documentary is an arbitrary one.” There is an implicit provocation to the audience embedded in this confident, confrontational demand for the artists’ output to be apprehended on its own terms; much of the work playfully exploits a thrilling tension between an observer’s expectations and the creative authenticity of the photographer’s vision.



Bonsu says that the exhibition has benefited greatly from the evolution of the medium and its new plasticity; work can not only be sourced from all over the continent and the diaspora, but also be presented in formats that blur and expand photography’s traditional framings. “I think this has liberated contemporary photographers from many of the limiting structures that we know 



many African artists face, whether it be lack of government infrastructure, or lack of mobility,” he says. “Those reductive estimations that Africa wasn’t a space of invention, of intellectual and cultural innovation, are of course a myth.



And it’s a myth that serves much of the colonial history that the exhibition also deals with.” To that end, the show shifts the audience’s perspective through a range of vantage points, media and scales, though there is perhaps an opportunity missed to fill one of the Tate’s gigantic spaces with the kind of colossal image its ambition deserves – an outsized encounter with the teetering sublime of Africa’s infinite complexity might have served as an emotional approximation of the overwhelming vastness of its subject.


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<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="741" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/George-Osodi-HRH-Queen-Hajiya-Hadizatu-Ahmedu-magajiya-of-Knubwada-2012.-Courtesy-of-George-Osodi-and-TAFETA-1024x741.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-60202" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/George-Osodi-HRH-Queen-Hajiya-Hadizatu-Ahmedu-magajiya-of-Knubwada-2012.-Courtesy-of-George-Osodi-and-TAFETA-1024x741.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/George-Osodi-HRH-Queen-Hajiya-Hadizatu-Ahmedu-magajiya-of-Knubwada-2012.-Courtesy-of-George-Osodi-and-TAFETA-300x217.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/George-Osodi-HRH-Queen-Hajiya-Hadizatu-Ahmedu-magajiya-of-Knubwada-2012.-Courtesy-of-George-Osodi-and-TAFETA-768x556.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/George-Osodi-HRH-Queen-Hajiya-Hadizatu-Ahmedu-magajiya-of-Knubwada-2012.-Courtesy-of-George-Osodi-and-TAFETA-1536x1112.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/George-Osodi-HRH-Queen-Hajiya-Hadizatu-Ahmedu-magajiya-of-Knubwada-2012.-Courtesy-of-George-Osodi-and-TAFETA-2048x1483.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">George Osodi, HRH Queen Hajiya Hadizatu Ahmedu magajiya of Knubwada, 2012. Courtesy of George Osodi and TAFETA</figcaption></figure></div>


There is still much to admire about this exciting, expansive exhibition, with its democratic embrace of both the vibrantly aesthetic and the viscerally provoking. “There are histories of struggle and resistance that are ever present,” Bonsu says. 



“But there are also the histories of difference that exist within the fabric of how cultures communicate: through language, through images. That notion of ‘in-betweenness’ is not so much physical, but the psychological in-betweenness that many African diasporic communities can relate to. It’s quite particular to a history of colonial violence, bound up in a deep knowing of one’s heritage, but also this desire to move forward. The exhibition doesn’t try to glaze over the realities that undergird these contemporary histories. The story is still unfolding, and we tried to really embrace that. It’s a challenge for our audiences to really go on that journey with us. They’re not going to have a conclusive sense of a kind of beginning and ending.”



Thus you leave the exhibition not with a sense of a completed narrative, but with a feeling of energized possibility, the rush of discovering fresh, reconfigured horizons.



“It’s that positivity, weighted with this idea of agency – many of the artists are almost suggesting that changing the world isn’t entirely out of reach, that photography itself, at some level, has the possibility to reach into the realm of the imagination,” Bonsu says. “And in doing so, maybe that liberates us – as viewers, as audiences – to think differently about the world we experience.”

Mario Macilau, Breaking News from The Profit Corner series, 2015.© Mário Macilau, Courtesy Ed Cross Fine Art

History, Identity, Imagination: African Photography In London

The scene is not picture-perfect yet, but ace photographers are slowly capturing the creative market in Ghana.



WHEN THE iconic Ghanaian photographer Emmanuel Bobbie, known widely by the moniker ‘Bob Pixel’, tragically passed away in February this year, the news sent shockwaves through the creative industry in Ghana. Bobbie had become a hero to a battery of young and upcoming Ghanaian photographers steadily following in his footsteps to build their own brands and enterprises, hoping to make it in the sector, a move exacerbated by the growing youth unemployment in the West African country. 



Bobbie was one of the pioneers and enablers of this transformation with his work celebrated both in Ghana and the world. His death reportedly attributed to Covid-19, turns the spotlight on the creative economy in Ghana. Whilst the pandemic has seen a renaissance of all things digital, it has also applied to the photography industry that now seems to be rapidly attracting a retinue of talented young men and women finding their feet in the once not-so-lucrative and unattractive sector. 



<div class="wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile" style="grid-template-columns:37% auto"><figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="683" height="1024" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Asante-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-51906 size-full" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Asante-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Asante-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Asante-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Asante-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Asante-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Asante-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" /></figure><div class="wp-block-media-text__content">
<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">It becomes very difficult for a startup because unlike developed countries, where you get funding and co-funding, in Ghana, that did not exist and the systems are not right to enable you to set up. – Gilbert Asante</blockquote>
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One such beneficiary of this growth is Gilbert Asante, who has been making an impression on social media and the corporate world with his photography.



Spotting a gap in the market for quality images when he began his career many years ago as a web designer, many of Asante’s photos have gone viral and been trend-setting in Ghana. 



Some of the biggest celebrities and corporate brands have queued up to the doorsteps of Laceup Media, the bespoke production house offering services covering every sphere of advertising, from graphic design to billboards, videography and commercials. 



Asante moonlights as a creative director for the company as well as being his own photography brand. 



“When I started, photography wasn’t a big thing as it is now. So, I would design a website with my team for a restaurant and the images [will be] terrible so it [would end] up making the website [look] very tacky. So that is what pushed me to invest in a camera. I just needed some decent photos. 



“At that time, there were no top photographers. So, I said ‘why don’t I take a camera and take a picture and add this to the website’. So, after that, things became curious in terms of ‘how do I make these pictures look like what I see in international publications’,” says Asante. 



His inspiration to delve deeper into the world of conceptual photography came about after a brief visit to the art centres of Japan. When he returned to Ghana, Asante knew he had found his calling. A self-taught photographer, he is now a name in the industry for his glamorous fashion shoots and out-of-the-box creative direction. But his success has been no walk in the park.



“The biggest issue I have is not based on photography but based on setting up a business in Ghana generally and that really cuts across all the sectors. It becomes very difficult for a startup because unlike developed countries, where you get funding and co-funding, in Ghana, that did not exist and the systems are not right to enable you to set up,” says Asante. 



While he was busy contending with these institutional issues, Elorm Ayayee pursued a career as a multilingual translator elsewhere. Fluent in French and Spanish, today, the founder of Elorm Ayayee Portraiture, a legacy portrait photography business in Ghana, was desperately searching for a career where she could make the most impact in the lives of people. 



“I was at a point in my career that I wasn’t making a contribution and I had worked myself into a system and at the core, I was against that. I don’t like being in a box or a cog in the wheel,” recalls Ayayee. 



Being a creative at heart, Ayayee went into publishing and worked as a ghostwriter for clients amongst many other things. 



“Photography was never on the horizon and never something I had considered… I came back to Ghana and was working with a company that did medical and surgical systems and I got married and had kids and then I realized that I had to make the call and I couldn’t have it all. I had to decide between my career and who I wanted to be as a family woman.” 



She made the tough decision to quit her career. 



“At that point, I had not been idle or jobless for over 20 years. I was always on the go and handling multiple things. I suddenly found myself with nothing to do. So, I took a trip to see my mum. One day, she had a program she had to go to and needed a photo of herself. It was the weekend and no one could do it and so she gave me my dad’s camera and I took a photo of her and until today, she says it is one of the best photos of her life.”



And just like that, Ayayee got hooked on photography. The Elorm Ayayee brand has been able to emerge as one of the top photography outlets in Ghana. Her popularity grew with time due to her ability to take captivating images of women, especially older women. 



“I immediately hooked on to what I thought my personal contribution would be. And that was birthed [by] seeing how my mother’s photo of herself impacted her and the other people and I said ‘this is my motivating factor’; seeing the way a woman sees herself when she looks at a photograph was amazing.” 



Both Ayayee and Asante are living proof of how lucrative the photography industry can be. But there is still a long way to go for upcoming talent. 



“A lot of people don’t see the business aspect of photography. There is so much big business from it and a lot of people don’t understand that and that is why they see photography as some job that is not going to give you so much security,” says Asante. 



For Ayayee, she knew the key to winning was to zone in on a specific demographic. 



“I was very clear about what I wanted to do. My niche was established when I started. I started out photographing women and I only took images of women above 50. And that kept me busy because I was offering a service that at the time didn’t really exist. I was very resolute about what type of images I wanted and my target audience,” says Ayayee. 



For Asante, on the other hand, the lack of any institutional investment meant he had to find other means to launch his business. 



“Laceup was started with about $4,000 which was money my partner and I put in at that time to purchase a few things. This was money I had saved from my previous work as a web designer. And my partner fielded the other half of it. It wasn’t that much in the beginning and we decided to build on that and make a lot of sacrifices in terms of the income coming in and how we could put it back in the business and make the company bigger. That is what helped us grow to the level we are now,” says Asante. 



Both Ayayee and Asante charge anywhere from $1,000 upwards depending on the packages they offer. 



“I didn’t start to be priced affordably because I was a mother of three and I had a limited amount of time. I felt like I had a very unparalleled skill-set which I translated into the cost I wished to receive for my work,” says Ayayee. 



The biggest hurdle in the photography business, according to Asante, is access to quality equipment. 



“All the equipment we use is imported. Every single one of them; even the backdrop paper we use for photography and that is difficult. We don’t even have servicing companies here so if cameras or equipment break down, you have to send it back to the UK and that was one of the biggest challenges we had in the beginning.” 



These are just some of the early-stage lessons they can impart to younger aspirants in the country. Zion Market Research estimated the global demand for digital photography at around $77.6 billion in 2015, projected to reach $110.8 billion by this year, and with so many young starry-eyed hopefuls still looking to make ends meet in Ghana, at least they have emerging role models who have looked through a more creative lens and proven that clicks can convert to cash.

Elom

Ghanaian Photographers On How Their Creative Businesses Click

Six months into the coronavirus pandemic in South Africa, the fate of most small businesses remain uncertain. The few left are struggling to survive. Skilled laborers are without jobs and the country faces an unemployment crisis. On the following are snapshots of some parts of the economy slowly crawling back to life.



BUSINESS WAS GOING WELL FOR JOHNNY ZULU, the owner of a 20-year-old salon named K&amp;S Beauty in Johannesburg, before Covid-19. But ever since the state-imposed lockdown that unfolded in various stages in the country, he says he has lost more than half of his customers. “I am not making money like I used to. Most customers say they fear for their lives and the virus,” rues Zulu. “I had no income, I had to make means to pay my rental. I survived through house calls.” To minimize the risk of clients getting infected, Zulu has now employed a new staff member so customers don’t have to wait in queues outside, and he has also started working on appointments. In this image, Zulu is wearing PPE as he works on a client, and as he also awaits another customer who is late for an appointment.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48260" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/2-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



A fully-loaded taxi leaves the crowded Winnie Mandela taxi rank at Kempton Park, east of Johannesburg on a busy weekday. All passengers are to mandatorily wear masks and sanitize before boarding the vehicles. 



Sifiso Vilakazi, a taxi owner and former professional South African soccer player, says during Level 5 of the lockdown in South Africa, most drivers lost their daily income and their families went hungry. “Now, since people are going back to work, we have more commuters and things are slowly getting back to normal,” says a hopeful Vilakazi.



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With lockdown restrictions gradually easing, and restaurants and bars reopening in South Africa, people are rediscovering the simple joys and conviviality of eating out. Here, youngsters treat themselves to their favorite local delicacy, called inyama yenhloko (head meat), with pap and salsa, at the popular Kwa Skero restaurant in Soweto, Johannesburg’s urban sprawl. 



Tiisetso Kumbula, a regular patron at the eatery, says she hadn’t enjoyed her favorite meal since March. “When the lockdown started, I had to learn how to cook from TV shows and when the President reopened restaurants, the first thing I wanted was to come here,” enthuses Kumbula.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/4-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48261" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/4-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/4-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/4-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/4-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



A mobile street vendor pushes his trolley filled with fresh fruits and vegetables on a sunny Friday morning. He can now conduct his business freely, without being asked for a special permit as was required during lockdown Levels 5, 4 and 3, by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and South African Police Service (SAPS) patrolling the streets in some parts.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="684" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/5-1024x684.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48262" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/5-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/5-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/5-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/5-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/5-2048x1367.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/5-600x401.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



With South Africa’s tourism sector reopening, strict Covid-19 regulations have been implemented in most facilities such as the Kloofendal Nature Reserve in the West Rand of Johannesburg, where mask-wearing, temperature-scans and hand-sanitizing are mandatory. Only smaller groups are allowed for hiking activities.



Adventurer Sabelo Zitha, who loves hiking, is happy to be back at the park, and says: “When President Cyril Ramaphosa announced we could hike again, I was very pleased to hear that. The recent hike we did was quite adventurous because I was doing what I love: being outdoors and engaging with various people, after a long stay at home. It was priceless. Now, I am even happier we can travel and hike in different provinces.’



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/6-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48264" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/6-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/6-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/6-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/6-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/6-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/6-600x400.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



After a fairly long and dry spell in South Africa, television shows have been given the green light to be shot on-location. In this image, an elderly citizen passes the site of a TV shoot in progress with Morgan Gould, a South African international footballer, in Rockville Soweto.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-style-default"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="684" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/7-1024x684.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48265" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/7-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/7-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/7-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/7-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/7-2048x1367.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/7-600x401.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Senior citizens wait in long queues at a local municipal building in Soweto to collect their monthly social grants. Social distancing is mostly not adhered to at these collection depots. Some of the grantees arrive early to stand in line, braving the cold morning air and Covid-19.

A Day In The Life Of…

Steven Benjamin chose to focus on the bird life in his garden in Cape Town to escape the confines of the lockdown.



During South Africa’s five-week shutdown (the country is still on Level 4 restrictions), Cape Town-born underwater photographer Steven Benjamin more used to sharks, whales and dolphins, used the period to look up instead – and indulge in bird-watching, another passion of his.



“Ever since the age of five or six, I have been interested in birds. I was dyslexic as a young child and I still have my first bird book where I ‘ticked’ backwards. I was trying to identify the birds that flew into my pre-school class and begged my mom to let me mark off what I’d seen, so birding has always been a passion,” says Benjamin, who also runs a seal-snorkeling business.



He has spent his life capturing South Africa’s marine world, and now, Benjamin had to redirect his focus to his Kalk Bay garden during the lockdown to photograph Cape Town’s resident birdlife.



He says photographing these feathered beauties is a way to bring joy during these uncertain times.



“They are so beautiful but incredibly difficult to photograph because they are shy and extremely fast. Photographing birds is a challenge but it creates a mental space to observe and admire nature.”



Soon after the lockdown started, Benjamin put white sugar in his bird feeder every morning and enjoyed the sight of local birds and documented them. He posted the images on Instagram and that garnered some online attention.



“The lockdown has made me relax and take the time to do things I would never have gotten around to doing. I settled on this project, which I work on every day. I’m always adding something new to the scene and there are always new birds and interactions happening. It’s made the days fly by,” he says.



During the lockdown, there was only one male Cape Sugar Bird that landed in his garden. This spectacular bird is unique to South Africa and mostly only found in the Western Cape. All of this will go into an exhibition Benjamin is working towards in Cape Town.

Steven Benjamin

Why This Photographer Looked Up During The Lockdown

[Compiled by Motlabana Monnakgotla, Gypseenia Lion and Karen Mwendera]



Image 1: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/kabelo-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42403" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/kabelo-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/kabelo-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/kabelo-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/kabelo-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/kabelo-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/kabelo.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Kabelo Mpofu, an entrepreneur, took over
his mother’s shop in Meadowlands, in the South African township of Soweto. He
is hopeful of making the family business a success despite big retail stores
opening up in the townships and swallowing up the corner groceries.



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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Youth-883-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42404" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Youth-883-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Youth-883-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Youth-883-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Youth-883-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Youth-883-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Youth-883.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Africa is the youngest continent in the
world. Every year, South Africa observes June as Youth Month, honoring the
anniversary of the Soweto Uprising on June 16. In this image, the country’s
sprawling township of Soweto comes alive with youth dancing in the winter
weather to local and international music at the Soweto International Jazz
Festival, an annual confluence of history, art and culture. 



Image 3: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Women-hold-up-placards-stating-their-grievences-on-gender-based-violence-994-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42405" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Women-hold-up-placards-stating-their-grievences-on-gender-based-violence-994-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Women-hold-up-placards-stating-their-grievences-on-gender-based-violence-994-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Women-hold-up-placards-stating-their-grievences-on-gender-based-violence-994-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Women-hold-up-placards-stating-their-grievences-on-gender-based-violence-994-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Women-hold-up-placards-stating-their-grievences-on-gender-based-violence-994-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Women-hold-up-placards-stating-their-grievences-on-gender-based-violence-994.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Women hold up placards against
gender-based violence during a ‘Shutdown Sandton’ campaign; this after a spate
of brutal rape and killings in South Africa.



Image 4: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Car-dealerships-were-among-the-businesses-that-were-set-alight-in-Jules-Str-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42406" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Car-dealerships-were-among-the-businesses-that-were-set-alight-in-Jules-Str-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Car-dealerships-were-among-the-businesses-that-were-set-alight-in-Jules-Str-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Car-dealerships-were-among-the-businesses-that-were-set-alight-in-Jules-Str-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Car-dealerships-were-among-the-businesses-that-were-set-alight-in-Jules-Str-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Car-dealerships-were-among-the-businesses-that-were-set-alight-in-Jules-Str-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Car-dealerships-were-among-the-businesses-that-were-set-alight-in-Jules-Str.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Car dealerships were among the businesses
set alight in Johannesburg’s Jules Street, during the spate of xenophobia
attacks in South Africa in August this year. The spark that fueled the raging
fire began in Pretoria, the country’s capital, when a taxi driver was shot dead
by a foreign national who was selling drugs to a youngster in the central
business district.



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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Tatt-694-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42407" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Tatt-694-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Tatt-694-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Tatt-694-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Tatt-694-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Tatt-694-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Tatt-694.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Sibusiso Dlamini, the co-founder of Soweto
Ink, works on one of his regular clients at his tattoo parlor founded in 2014
with his long-time friend, Ndumiso Ramate. In 2019, Soweto Ink held the fourth
annual tattoo convention, and for the first time in partnership with BET
Africa, to break tattoo taboos in Africa.



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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-525-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42408" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-525-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-525-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-525-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-525-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-525-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-525.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Mmusi Maimane, the former leader of South
Africa’s opposition party, Democratic Alliance, is about to cast his vote in
front of local and international media houses who had wrestled to get the
perfect shot in his hometown in Dobsonville, Soweto, during the elections in
South Africa in 2019. 



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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-862-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42409" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-862-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-862-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-862-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-862-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-862-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-862.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



The brother of South African journalist,
Shiraaz Mohamed, begs for government intervention after Mohamed was kidnapped
in Syria on January 2017 by a group of armed men. The group demanded more than
$500,000 for his freedom. 



Image 8: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="681" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cyril-being-escorted-by-his-body-guards-out-of-the-conference-room-1024x681.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42410" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cyril-being-escorted-by-his-body-guards-out-of-the-conference-room-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cyril-being-escorted-by-his-body-guards-out-of-the-conference-room-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cyril-being-escorted-by-his-body-guards-out-of-the-conference-room-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cyril-being-escorted-by-his-body-guards-out-of-the-conference-room-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cyril-being-escorted-by-his-body-guards-out-of-the-conference-room-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cyril-being-escorted-by-his-body-guards-out-of-the-conference-room.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



South African President Cyril Ramaphosa
with his body guards at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South
Africa, where the three-day South Africa Investment Conference was held in
November.



Image 9: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="681" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/DSC_0100-1024x681.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42411" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/DSC_0100-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/DSC_0100-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/DSC_0100-600x399.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/DSC_0100-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/DSC_0100-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/DSC_0100.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



In a world that’s embracing new
technology, inspiration is being found in bug behavior. The hard-bodied dung
beetle is now key to robotics research, in Africa too. Astounded by this
discovery early this year is Marcus Byrne, a researcher at the University of
the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg who has been studying dung beetles for over
20 years. He holds up a metallic replica of a dung beetle in his hand in his
office at the university.



Image 10: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-923-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42412" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-923-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-923-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-923-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-923-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-923-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Elections-923.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Mzimhlophe Hostel, a hostel among many others in Soweto, erupted with service delivery protests prior to the elections in South Africa. In the same vicinity, an informal settlement was also allegedly set on fire. Brothers Mduduzi (32) and Kwenzi Gwala (22), pictured, had arrived in Johannesburg looking for employment. They sold African beer, but their shack was set alight while they were still at church. They lost all their stock and possessions. 



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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/opener-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42413" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/opener-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/opener-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/opener-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/opener-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/opener-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/opener.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



A thrift market in the heart of Johannesburg’s central business district, not too far from a busy taxi rank, known for its pavement robberies. Despite the crimes, thousands of small entrepreneurs trade in this raucous market every day.



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<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dps-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42414" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dps-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dps-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dps-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dps-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dps-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/dps.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



ANC, DA and EFF supporters dancing and chanting outside the Hitekani Primary School in Chiawelo, Soweto, South Africa,
as they await South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to cast his vote in his
former primary school.&nbsp; 



Image 13:



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/VanninBalcony-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42415" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/VanninBalcony-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/VanninBalcony-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/VanninBalcony-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/VanninBalcony-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/VanninBalcony-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/VanninBalcony.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Tenants in the discarded Vannin Court in
Johannesburg look on from their balconies as jubilation erupts on the ground
floor.



Image 14: 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Vestine-Nyiravesabimana-makes-money-weaving-baskets-to-feed-her-nine-children-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42416" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Vestine-Nyiravesabimana-makes-money-weaving-baskets-to-feed-her-nine-children-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Vestine-Nyiravesabimana-makes-money-weaving-baskets-to-feed-her-nine-children-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Vestine-Nyiravesabimana-makes-money-weaving-baskets-to-feed-her-nine-children-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Vestine-Nyiravesabimana-makes-money-weaving-baskets-to-feed-her-nine-children-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Vestine-Nyiravesabimana-makes-money-weaving-baskets-to-feed-her-nine-children-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Vestine-Nyiravesabimana-makes-money-weaving-baskets-to-feed-her-nine-children.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



Vestine Nyiravesabimana makes money weaving
intricate baskets made of grass to feed her nine children in Kigali, Rwanda.

Cow 603

Forbes Africa’s Best Photographs In 2019

“A lot of people think that I succumb to this ditsy blonde role,” discloses performance artist Jana ‘Babez’ Terblanche. We’re sitting in a chic coffee shop on Kloof Street in Cape Town in South Africa; her pink highlights are a vivid counterpoint to the starchy white walls and tablecloths.
“But actually, I’ve used it as a vehicle, to push things further. Almost to see how far people will accept it.”
Winner in 2014 of the Simon Gerson Prize for outstanding student work at her alma mater, the University of Cape Town, Terblanche has created a striking portfolio that “interrogates the strains on the modern female body, using the breakdown of female archetypes to shift the way that we think about female agency and desire.”
It is fizzing pop culture unbottled and forensically analyzed, repurposed for a fluid feminist agenda. Her preoccupation with the icons that populate the macabre landscape of celebrity glitz and media voyeurism – Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Dolly Parton – has its roots in formative years spent in sparsely-populated mining towns in Namibia, where her only access to a cultural elsewhere was the radio.
“I’m South African, I’ve spent most of my adult life here, but my childhood seems disconnected from everything else,” she says.
“I also feel almost like my childhood was another life, another person. The first time I heard Britney Spears I was like, ‘What is this?’ I didn’t understand. I was in this tiny town in the middle of nowhere, dreaming about an American reality, because I didn’t know what cities meant. So I actually had quite a warped interpretation of the outside world.”
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/life/2017/11/23/king-kong-musicals/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: The King Kong Of Musicals</a>
Her Namibia Series revisits these desert moonscapes where the well of her creativity was first mined; she appears in flowing chiffon against the spectacular umber backdrop of the Fish River Canyon. Her face is hidden – a recurring motif in many of her photographs.
“I cover the face because I want it to stand in for every woman,” she says. “I don’t want it to be personal.”
In Bride, her face is obscured by a mask of roses, swarming like bees; in Hollywood Cerise, she is covered head to toe in a magenta body stocking, her ponytail spilling out like an insistent yellow question mark.
Her work is luridly confrontational but archly self-aware, a good-humoured, interrogational pop feedback loop.
“Initially people thought I was joking,” she laughs. “What is this little girl doing, making art about Britney Spears? She’s walking around in a pink suit, what does that mean? It took a lot of perseverance to say I’m going to stick to my guns, and only if you carry on do people say, oh, she’s still doing this, there must be some merit to it.”
<div id="attachment_34604" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-34604" class=" wp-image-34604" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Jana-Babez-Terblanche-Hollywood-Cerise-photo-Jody-Brand-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="450" />Jana &#8216;Babez&#8217; Terblanche (Photo by Jody Brand)</div>
There is plenty of a salty sort of grit too, and a fierce determination to expose misogyny and patriarchal oppression. Nightfall, a performance piece in which she strapped bricks to her feet and walked across Company’s Garden, a famous local heritage site, was inspired by the March 2017 brutal street-corner murder of sex worker Nokuphila Khumalo by the famous photographer and artist Zwelethu Mthethwa.
“After that incident, his work was still being sold in galleries,” she says. “I was so infuriated, I couldn’t believe this. Someone literally profiting off the back of a woman he had murdered. I was going mental. There has to be a point where publicity is bad, but no, there isn’t. So I did this work, in memory of her and in solidarity with sex workers.”
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2017/09/20/three-women-three-wives-one-true-story/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Three Women, Three Wives, One True Story</a>
The fallacy of neutral space, the idea that women can ever feel safe outside their own homes, is something she interrogates with passion.
“Space is not neutral at all. On a certain level, men navigate the world without having to be afraid,” she says.
“Walking on the way here, there were three guys in front of me. And I hate the fact that my mind immediately has to go to walking a bit slower – honestly, I had to stop around the corner. I consider this hyperawareness a form of repression that’s not spoken about.”
She talks about the common phenomenon of women feeling compelled to wear ear buds when on the street, just to deter unwanted attention.
“All the space in the world is male space. If there were women-only spaces, men would just get angry about it – men are so fragile. Isn’t that scary, that my mind went there? I thought about men, before I thought about the woman. God, that’s so messed up!”
Terblanche warns also of female complicity, of women who seek to appease male aggression.
“I’ve had so much kickback from women, and I’ve gotten very upset about it, thinking, wow, aren’t we supposed to stand together? But then I realized how strong internalized misogyny is. We’ve all been conditioned, and we have to unlearn these things.”
At its best, with its polaroid tang of glamor and grime, Terblanche’s work stands toe to toe with its clear influences – performance artists Marina Abramovic and Ana Mendieta, and the shape-shifting roleplay of photographer Cindy Sherman. It is provocative and playful, but with a dangerous, hidden razor’s edge.
“I’m always playing a version of myself. We are all playing versions of ourselves,” she says, as the busy Cape Town café characters come and go. “That’s what’s so exciting about performance art. You can be someone else tomorrow.” &#8211; Written by Alastair Hagger

The Performance Artist Playing Everyone

At 50, Monica Zwolsman has a jovial irreverence about her. There is a reason behind that, the single mother of two has endured one tragedy after another.
In the course of a decade, she lost two husbands and an infant son. She moved cities numerously during this time and eventually settled in the Gold Coast, Australia, where she survived a divorce from “husband number three”, father of her two young boys.
Today, Zwolsman makes peace with her tragedies in a new book, Love. Loss. Life (published by Jacana).
“I’ve spent so much of my life trying to forget and I had to forget in order to survive&#8230;I had to be emotionally stable enough,” she says.
In April 1994, a week before South Africa’s historic elections, her award-winning photographer husband, Ken Oosterbroek, was shot and killed while out on assignment. He was a victim of the bloody political violence sweeping the country.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29754 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/benjamin-nicolson-hilton-barber-197x300.jpg" alt="" width="197" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/benjamin-nicolson-hilton-barber-197x300.jpg 197w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/benjamin-nicolson-hilton-barber-300x457.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/benjamin-nicolson-hilton-barber.jpg 399w" sizes="(max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px" />
“Everyone knew he was dead except me&#8230;when I got there, people had just ran away and I ran into the hospital and I just saw his feet sticking out, he was [on a gurney] covered, with his feet sticking out and that’s when I realized [he was dead]&#8230;I was so stunned they probably had to steer me home.”
At the time, Zwolsman was a crime reporter with The Star, a popular Johannesburg daily, she knew the dangers of the time. But his death was a deafening blow.
“I just floated along in a cloud, babbling on mindlessly&#8230;eventually I took a lot of sleeping pills and I hid in the cupboard. Occasionally people would try to check up on me and I just hated that. I put my bed in the cupboard&#8230;I would take strong sleeping tablets and I just slept in the cupboard.”
Looking for a way forward, she left for London.
“I just left and I said to the estate agent, “pack up everything and take it to the dump”. I packed a suitcase of stuff; memorabilia, mainly photos, a shirt of his&#8230;and just left. I was so odd, I hid in London as well. I had a little apartment and I had a job. I would just wander around the streets, I would walk all the time because I never slept&#8230;because if I [didn’t] go sleep, I wouldn’t have to wake up and realize ‘Oh god, Ken’s dead’!”
But that difficult time eventually came to an end. Returning to South Africa in 1995 for the inquest into Oosterbroek’s death, she met a “friend-of-a-friend”, photographer Steven Hilton-Barber, in her words meeting him, on the anniversary of Ken’s death, was electric.
“&#8230;we spent the night together partying wildly. By morning, I was the Merry Widow personified. I’d totally lost the sympathy vote and nobody remained my friend. I returned to London but a few weeks later, Steven arrived in London and we got married soon after.”
Husband number two was a “wild, woolly man” and they traveled the world together seeking adventure. In 2002, they had a beautiful baby boy, Benjamin. However, their happiness was short-lived. That year, Hilton-Barber suffered a fatal heart attack. He was just 39 and Benjamin was five months old.
A few months after Hilton-Barber’s death, Benjamin had a minor operation, but wires crossed with medication, the baby went into a coma and never woke up. In the space of a year, she had lost both husband and son.
“So, there I was, now 40 years old, a widow with a dead son.  I could not imagine the agony of having to continue living&#8230;I begged people to put me out of my misery, like a dog.”
Once again, Zwolsman left town, to Australia, where she now lives. Fourteen months later, she had met and married “husband number three”, had a son and was pregnant with the next. She began a new life in earnest.
But that, too, was short-lived. She and her husband separated a few years later and she was at her lowest. Her memoir opens at that point, she is depressed, devastated and considering suicide, wondering if her children would ever forgive her.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29755 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Monica-and-Steven-1995-300x210.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="210" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Monica-and-Steven-1995-300x210.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Monica-and-Steven-1995-600x420.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Monica-and-Steven-1995-768x537.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Monica-and-Steven-1995-1024x717.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Monica-and-Steven-1995.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Fast-forward to the present, she is coping well. She is a proud mother of two and an English teacher.
Putting pen to paper, she says, is a ‘full stop’; the declaration of an end to a series of unfortunate events. And despite the sorrow she shares in her story, Zwolsman manages to let some humor seep in.
“Putting all my surnames [on the book] was supposed to be funny but now everyone goes Monica Nicholson Oosterbroek Hilton-Barber Zwolsman&#8230;it was supposed to be a joke but I think it backfired.”

mon-695

Love And  Loss  Times

It is said that the camera doesn’t lie. In a split second, photographing a boy walking on a beach with a toy gun can, in so many ways, reflect global issues. The trick is making you believe it’s relevant.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-31213 size-thumbnail alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/IMG_2206-150x150.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_2206-150x150.jpg 150w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_2206-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />
A photojournalist is aware of the story he needs to tell. His images are his tools and sometimes they make you see a completely different reality. In this image a toy gun, child, beach and the word Somalia all combine to tell you that this could be a Somali child soldier.
The reality has nothing to do with this child being a soldier. It’s supposed to be a slice-of-life moment of Ramadan.  The irony of seeing a deadly weapon, even if it’s a toy, carried by a kid on a day of festivity in an Islam based country… complete the dots.  Generalizations are never pretty.
But it shocks. The lesson is simple; readers need to understand that a photograph should never be taken on face value.
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The Camera Never Lies?

It’s not easy to be a photographer, not when your father is a high court judge and there are four lawyers and two doctors in the family. Photographer Kelechi Amadi-Obi has made peace with the fact that he’s a bit of a black sheep in the family. And looking back, his family should have known all along that he was going to be an artist.
Growing up in the eastern region of Nigeria, in the city of Umuahia, he quickly developed a passion for drawing.
“It all started with reading comics and drawing Spiderman and The Incredible Hulk. I realized that I had talent with visual arts and I started to draw. My drawings earned me respect among my peers,” says Amadi-Obi.
With the encouragement of those around him, he was spurred on to improve his skills. Unfortunately in the neighborhood where he grew up, there were no museums, art schools or galleries where he could hone his skills.
“I would go to the local library to do research on drawing. The more I read and practised, the better I got and the quicker I improved,” he says.
<div id="attachment_1623" style="width: 235px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1623" class="size-medium wp-image-1623" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/supplied-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" />Amadi -Obi dressed as a barrister</div>
Even with his passion for drawing and the visual arts, his family put his career choices down to law or medicine. Amadi-Obi chose law and duly enrolled at university. Ironically though university exposed him to art in a way he had never encountered before.
“When I got to university I realized there was an active art scene there. I naturally gravitated towards artists,” he says.
The law student became the talk of his campus as his artwork surpassed that of the art students. Yet he kept hitting the law books and graduated to take up a job as barrister. He only wore his gown and wig for one year after being called to the bar.
“After my one year of service I started working at an art studio, where I exhibited my art and became a successful exhibiting artist. Photography came gradually. I used to make photos as a reference material for my paintings. I started making paintings of human forms and took photos of models in my studio with light coming from my window,” says the painter-cum-photographer.
“I learnt to use a camera and learnt to capture light in a very intricate and delicate way to achieve my purpose. The photographs themselves became artworks. I started associating with other photographers too. Once I finished taking images I would go to the darkroom to print my photos. I looked at the darkroom process and it looked very similar to my painting process, only it had quicker results,” he says.
His decision to settle in Lagos shaped his career forever. The city has not attracted many photographers but it has certainly attracted those with an eye for drama. The city exposed him to spectacular sites including the picturesque lagoons of the region, which span over 635 kilometers and cut across the southern part of the metropolis, linking the Atlantic Ocean and Lekki lagoon. But it wasn’t just the beauty of the lagoons, which attract so many artists that inspired Amadi-Obi. He also saw inspiration in the sprawling fishing slums that draw together the huge influx of people migrating to the region.
His photographic career took off in 2001, when a German friend invited him to exhibit at the Rencontres De Bamako or “African Photography Biennale”. Since the exhibition’s inception in 1994, it has caught the attention of jet-setting curators, critics and dealers. It has also popularized African photographers such as Seydou Keïta and Malick Sidibé.
Soon after he was invited to Milan to showcase the collection he exhibited at the Biennale. But while Rencontres De Bamako has opened doors for many African photographers, it has also been a source of controversy.
“Some of the reasons for this controversy are familiar and echo long-standing issues in the presentation of African art to Euro-American audiences,” write Jennifer Bajorek and Erin Haney, who are independent curators.
They claim that such exhibitions perpetuate asymmetries of power and leave young artists and organizers feeling alienated from their work. To overcome these challenges artists are forming new alliances and building their own networks, which are not remote-controlled by the West.
Amadi-Obi is no exception. After his exhibition in Milan he established a career in Nigeria in collaboration with other upcoming photographers. Depth of Field, set up in 2001, is the brainchild of Amadi-Obi and five other photographers: Uchechukwu James Iroha, Toyosi Odunsi, Amaize Ojeikere, Emeka Okereke and Toyin Sokefun. This artist collective was formed to deepen the conversation among the photographers and aims to attract local audiences to their work. They critique each other’s work and share resources including a library, publicity platforms and web visibility.
The ace photographer’s online portfolio is stacked with fashion photos he took before he was commissioned to such a shoot.
“I wanted to shoot fashion but there were no fashion magazines. Still I would call models and take pictures of them like the ones I would see in Vogue Magazine. So I was making a portfolio with no clients.
“When someone in Nigeria bought the South African franchise of True Love magazine [to the country], they needed a photographer and someone recommended me,” says Amadi-Obi.
His work with True Love earned him recognition among mushrooming corporates looking to improve their image with slick photographs in company brochures, annual reports and on their websites. With commissions from companies such as Guinness, MTN, British American Tobacco, the Ford Foundation, Prima Garnet Ogilvy, Insight Grey, Flour Mills of Nigeria and Orange Drugs, his career is on the up.
His passion for photography has made Amadi-Obi a household name in Lagos. To be a successful photographer does not require extraordinary equipment, he believes. When he started his career he used a Mamiya RB67 film camera. Today, most of his images are taken with several professional lenses but he’s hooked on the Canon EOS 5D Mark II body.
“I am not particular with equipment. There was a time when I used to be crazy about cameras but I got tired because they keep changing… To get a good image you just need to have a good eye,” says Amadi-Obi.

No Law Against Chasing Light

A dark room, a wedding, a retired photographer and a magazine editor changed 35-year-old Sudanese Emmanuel Jambo’s life. In another life, Jambo would have been a basketball player like his childhood friend, Luol Deng, an NBA Chicago Bulls basketball player, also from Sudan.
Jambo’s first interaction with photography was courtesy of his older sister who was studying journalism in high school. “I remember we were still living in Sudan and my sister was in elementary school. We had a dark room at home where she would process her films and I was amazed by how you would wash photographic paper with chemicals and see images,” says Jambo at his studio in Nairobi, Kenya. Born to a diplomat father, Jambo’s family moved to Egypt, then to the United States where they settled in Chicago. After the move, Jambo got busy with his passion—basketball.
Basketball was his thing for a few years but one day, an incident at an Atlanta studio marked the turning point. “My friend and I had gone to pose for a photo shoot. Throughout, I criticized the photographer and gave suggestions on how she should take photos. After that, my friend said that it seemed I knew more than the woman and suggested I try photography.” A week later, Jambo bought a $300 film camera that was on sale for $150 and started taking photos.
The story could have ended there, but Jambo’s friend was getting married and she asked him to take photos. “Since she was my friend, I agreed and asked for $10 to buy film. I shot the four-hour wedding and delivered the photos.” The family was so impressed, the groom pulled him aside and slipped him $800. “He said he had seen wedding photos of his friends by professional photographers, but my work was amazing.” That recognition gave Jambo confidence. He quit basketball. “It wasn’t an overnight decision. It was about injury—when I walk in a quiet place, you can hear my ankles popping all the way.”
Jambo invested the $800 in buying used equipment and in the process, met a retired photographer who had been diagnosed with cancer and was selling his equipment.
“The photographer, who had 30 years of experience, had taken photos of people like Martin Luther King.”
When he got to his studio, the equipment had been sold. “We got talking, connected and he liked me because it happened that we had gone to the same school in Chicago.”
The veteran decided to mentor the rookie photographer. “He said he would look at my work and advise me. One day, I took a portrait of a model and when I showed him, he stood up and saluted me. He told me my framing was perfect, my lighting was good and I had captured her features and expressions well. I thought, ‘Wow! This is really working!’”
From then, Jambo knew he was doing the right thing. He set up a website and a studio at his parents’ home. Word spread and business picked up. “The American rapper, Bone Crusher, asked me to design his CD cover and I got projects with agencies dealing with models.”
After two years, Jambo decided to visit his sister in Kenya, where he ran into the fashion editor of True Love, published by East African Magazines (EAM), a joint venture with South African publisher Media24. “I met the general manager, who loved my work and told me about ADAM, a men’s magazine about to launch in Kenya.” The editor of the magazine, Oyunga Pala, told him eight words: “Dude, go get your stuff and come back!” He moved to Kenya.
He took up assignments at EAM and soon he got a call from State House in Zambia—President Rupia Banda wanted Jambo to do some work for him. “That was one of the moments that really made me think I made the right decision to follow photography.” Jambo called his mom from the State House in Zambia while having dinner with the president. “That was one of the highlights of my career.”
Jambo was part of the 2011 London Fashion Week, an experience he describes as amazing, but one he said came a little late in his career. “Covering a major fashion event was one of my dreams when I was starting out. But it’s chaotic, unlike a photo shoot, where they cater for you.” He says at big events like the Oscars, photographers push and shove looking for space. “You reach a point in your career when you want to shoot for Calvin Klein exclusively. Dreams change as you progress in your career.”
Jambo loves shooting weddings because of the art behind it and the challenge. “A bride could be standing here one minute, and the next, you look at the window and you have to change the aperture, shutter, focus… the timing has to be perfect. Every moment that unfolds you have to be clicking away—it’s very challenging. The stakes are high; there can be a lot of disappointment. For a magazine, you can retake or change the photographer, but a wedding happens once—you get it or you don’t.”
Jambo has photographed high-profile weddings like that of the first daughter of the South Sudanese president, Salva Kiir Mayardit; a family wedding of President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda; and a $6 million royal wedding in India that took place over three days and was attended by the King of Jaipur, Indian ministers and cricket legends. “That was one of the most expensive weddings I have shot.”
But the road has not always been smooth. When he moved to Kenya, he had doubts. “I was dealing with a lot of people back in Atlanta and business was good.” He was frustrated by small things like getting his paper work straight and delayed payments from clients. He admits doing business in Kenya has taught him valuable lessons. When he started out, he would accept verbal agreements. “I would work but they wouldn’t pay me on time. I have had to stop doing shoots for a publication that didn’t pay me at all.”
Despite fraternizing with celebrities, Jambo says his greatest satisfaction is when ordinary people walk up to him and acknowledge his work. In retrospect, he is glad to have returned to Africa at a time when the market was ripe for talent. “I was among the first black photographers that started doing big stuff. This market is easier than the United States, where you have hundreds of photographers who have been doing photography for many years…
“People would ask me why I moved from America and scrutinize the equipment I had, but over time, they respect you.”
For a long time, people thought “Jambo” (Swahili for hello) was a nickname. “A woman at a wedding (who had seen my photographs) told me, ‘Oh my God! I thought you were white!’” She was studying law, but quit her studies and became a photographer.
Jambo has inspired people. “They tell me now that one of us is doing it, we can do it. My biggest pride is having changed perspectives. Photography as a career is now acceptable among the African middle-class, who conventionally encourage their children to pursue traditional careers like law, engineering or medicine. It is humbling when a mother brings her child to learn from me.” The granddaughter of Mwai Kibaki and the daughter of Raila Odinga, Kenya’s prime minister, have both been interns at Jambo’s studio.
Now Jambo has bigger things up his sleeve. He has dabbled in cinematography and hopes to document South Sudan’s history. He was there during the referendum and the independence celebrations. “I see a lot of potential in Sudan. The next move for me is opening a branch of my studio in South Sudan.”
As for his photography, Jambo says he would love to take photos of people who have made a difference in the world. “Before, I wanted to shoot the cover of a magazine, but now, I am looking at taking photos of people like Nelson Mandela, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Kofi Annan for book or magazine covers.”
His other project is teaching photography. “I intend to start a fine art school and make available professional, modern photographic equipment. Photography requires very expensive equipment. I can remember one person telling me I picked one of the most expensive hobbies in the world.”
So what makes a great photographer? “Passion is what sets people apart. You need that drive that separates you from the rest. It makes you push the bar higher!”

Tag: photography

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