12/23
2009
2009
See you in 2010!
I’m Glenna Gordon, an American photographer and journalist, presently commuting between West Africa and Brooklyn. Previously, I lived in Liberia. And before that, I lived in Uganda. I’ve traveled and worked in over a dozen countries in Africa.
I found the scarlett lion on the roof of a friend’s house in Kampala back in 2006 when I went through a crate of discarded items he and a few other artists had gathered. On that day, I was looking for something and I found the lion: a discarded kid’s toy made in China on the cheap, that somehow found it’s way to East Africa. Something about the hollowed out, paint chipped figurine appealed to my understanding of this place: I’d never seen a real lion, after all.
Year round, the sign on the top of the wall surrounding Charles Taylor’s house says SEASON GREETINGS. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be ironic or not, but it always struck me as strange. Some of his family members still live in the residence, commonly referred to as White Flower (though I’m not sure anyone knows why it’s called that) , but no one bothers to take down the sign. It’s been there for years, wishing Monrovia residents perpetual Christmas cheer.
During college, I remember learning in an anthropology class about a great thinker who said that culture is the story we tell ourselves about ourselves. Something about this has stuck with me and resonated with my idea to take photos of the drawings on the wall in Monrovia. Some are advertisements, and others are public welfare messages, and all tell me something about how Liberians see the world. There are more images in a gallery on my homepage, www.glennagordon.com, and I plan to continue adding to this series next year.
I wish they had included information about Liberia, but then I guess you wouldn’t even be able to see the map for all the hash marks. Driving in Liberia is more like driving a bit, paying a bribe or having an argument, drive a bit, repeat. Read more about this, and see the original map, here.
There is no better way to start your Monday than by watching this YouTube video. Hat Tip to KT in Dakar, via her Facebook news feed.
Texas in Africa rocks out and writes an amazing post called Show Me the Data about the connections, and lack thereof, between minerals and mining in Congo and the prevalence of rape.
And speaking of Congo, here are three major problems with the much praised 60 Minutes story on Congo’s Gold.
Tales from the Hood criticizes Nick Kristof, which is great because that’s one thing I can check off my to-do list for today.
Very famous and probably pretty rich photographer James Nachtwey offers an unpaid internship to highly skilled photographers. The irony of someone whose work focuses on social injustice ensuring that his protegee is a rich kid is almost too much for me. Read the comments on this post to see photographers duke it out and call each other names.
Did you know Sierra Leone once had a thriving postcard industry? Neither did I! Read about that and see some amazing photos from a well-curated selection of photos that show the history of photograph on the continent.
Bendu Varney thinks she is about 90 years old, but isn’t quite sure. An elderly widow, she lost all three of her sons during the war and now there is no one to take care of her.
The problem with her eyes makes it look like she’s continuously crying. But when I hazarded a thank you in Greebo, her language, she smiled a little.
