“Tenere Taqhim Tossam” — Tinariwen featuring TV on the Radio, from their upcoming album Tassili.

HT PopAfricana

The Italian publisher Contrasto has recently released TJ Johannesburg Photographs 1948-2010/Double Negative, a book of photos by David Golblatt taken in Joburg over the past 40 years. His documentation of apartheid is widely respected and he’s known for his often stated reminder that not much has changed for South Africa’s blacks since then. Definitely worth a look. HT to PDN.

We are defined by our choices. As a photographer, every choice I make documents someone else’s choices.

No one at the Bahn Refugee Camp had been lead there by easy choices. Post-election violence in Ivory Coast caused over 100,000 people to flee their homes to neighboring Liberia. And in documenting that reality, I too had choices to make. The day the camp opened in February, I woke at 5 am and drove from a guest house in Saniquelle to a border town called Kissiplay. A couple of hundred refugees who had been relying on host villages for support were being transported to Bahn. The morning was subdued . People accepted their fate as they left the border, where they could easily head home should things get better. They headed 50 kilometers away to Bahn. This meant accepting that things were probably not going to get better soon.

After hours in trucks on dusty roads, we arrived at Bahn. Everyone was exhausted, myself included. The mayor of Bahn town came out to greet the refugees. Staff from UNHCR and other orgs blared out instructions on megaphones as people lined up to be registered and given ID cards.

I saw a moment: a young girl, covered in dust from the journey, crying. As a photographer, I knew it was a moment that would resonate visually. But I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable, making this young girl’s moment a public document.

I took the photo. I justified it to myself many ways: that’s what I was there to do; I would talk with her and her family later and hear their story; that this moment was an important record of a difficult day and of choices she and her family were forced to make.

I took a couple of frames and stepped back.

Later, I made sure to get to know her and her family. The young girl is named Grace Geue. When her mother, Elise, started crying, Grace did do. And then, Elise told me later, Grace crying made Elise cry more. Elise cried when she thought of all the relatives she had left behind in Ivory Coast, of the school where her husband Philipe was a teacher, of their new life at the camp, and because she made her daughter cry.

Now that the political situation in Ivory Coast has stabilized somewhat, I wonder about Elise, Grace and Philipe. Are they still at Bahn? Have they began the long walk home?

I don’t regret taking the photo of Grace crying. It wasn’t an easy decision, and I hope it was the right one. Now Grace is part of UNHCR’s World Refugee Day campaign and her image is being used as an advocacy tool.

I hope that Grace thinks I made the right decision too.

Grace with the High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres and head of UNMIL Ellen Margrethe Løj, March 2011. No tears.

Africa is a Country recently put up several works by Kudzanai Chiurai, a Joburg based Zimbabwean artist.

Here’s a description of his work:

His satirical series The Parliament depicts the fictitious characters of an imaginary government cabinet in a parody of media representations of masculinity and political power. The series draws upon the conventions of African studio portraiture, dramatised magazine features, hip-hop, film and fashion as well as the story lines, stereotyped characters and plots of soap operas.

Minister of Finance

Minister of Education

I like these images – they are interesting. But ultimately, I wonder what kind of effect they would have if they were toned down just a bit. The images take the visual satire and cliches so far that I think it’s easy to dismiss them rather than connect them to the actual government representatives that are violent and corrupt. At just 30 years old, Chiurai is still a very young artist. It will be great to watch his work mature and progress over the coming years.

Moved 2 Monrovia put up this awesome vintage post card that shows the view from Snapper Hill. He dates it to the 1950s.

Move 2 Monrovia tells it how it is when he takes a shoddy Atlantic article to task: “But to wrap it up so neatly, to roll the credits over the scene, fade to black, is to miss many of the lessons that could be learned from this horrific conflict.”

Biggest goat scam ever.

Chris Blattman links to a paper that explains that perhaps Somaliland’s lack of donor dollars has made the government accountable and representative to tax payers.

Broadway musical Fela! makes it to Lagos.

Spending more time in New York is great. In addition to being close to friends and family, and 24 hour electricity, the live music in unparalleled. In the span of one week, I danced in the parking lot with too many hipsters listening to a dj spin Afro-caribbean funk at First Saturdays as the Brooklyn Museum, and then heard Amadou & Mariam perform at a swanky hotel, and then got to see  Asa perform at an intimate venue on the Lower East Side.**

All of the events were great, but Asa’s show stood out because  she’s such an amazing performer. She joked about her football age, got the crowd singing along, and talked about Nigerians contributing to Nigeria, all without breaking a sweat.

**HUGE props to Shelby Grossman for filling me in about the Asa concert.

Turns out Pieter Hugo doesn’t really care for Beyoncé and her adaptation of his imagery in the new Run the World video. He told the New Yorker’s blog Photobooth,

“It isn’t the first time someone has used my images for a music promo,” Hugo told me when I asked him about Beyoncé’s video. “Nick Cave’s Grinderman project used much more than stylistic reference for his ‘Heathen Child’ video. I can count at least a dozen direct visual copies from my ‘Nollywood’ series in the video. I am a huge fan of Nick Cave, so in that instance it’s flattering. I don’t particularly like the Beyoncé song. It all seems so derivative—the music, the imagery… I’m sure the Hyena Men are wondering if they’re going to get paid!”

While Hugo might think Beyonce is “derivative,” I’m guessing that the Hyena Men would rather be in her video than Nick Cave’s.

Chei! … these girls are PRIME candidates!

Buutuo, March 2011

A school without a roof is a school without any students. As the United Nations made trip after trip to the border between Liberia and Ivory Coast during post election violence that sent more than 160,000 Ivoirians into neighboring Liberia, there were many unintended consequences. A helicopter pilot for UNMIL, the UN mission in Liberia, hovered over the school in the remote town of Buutuo for just a bit too long. The wind created by the chopper blew the zinc roof off and left it in a mangled pile behind the building.

Never wanted to fly so much… I especially love some of the urban shots.