10/09
2012
2012
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.
This blog is named after a found object — a plastic lion that was in a crate of discarded items a friend and a few other artists had gathered. I sat on their roof in Nakasero, Kampala back in 2006, sorting through the crate. On that day, I was looking for something. “You are lost!” Ugandas say. But, on that day, I’d found this discarded kid’s toy, made in China on the cheap, that somehow ended up in 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.
I’m in Lagos for a bit, staying at the amazing African Artists Foundation, working on some exciting new projects and snapping away. More soon, but for now, I’m posting lots of photos on Instagram on my own account and also as part of the project EverydayAfrica.
Great new work by Joe Penney from Mauritania.
Football’s Lost Boys — Nigerian footballers stuck in Istanbul
A bit late posting about this, but last week at Guernica we featured an interview with Azu Nwagbogu, the founder of the African Artists Foundation, the brains behind LagosPhoto. Thanks to Joe Penney for doing the interview. There’s also a slideshow of some of the great work that was on show in Lagos — please head over and check it out!
In February 2011, more than 40,000 Ivorians refugees fled post election violence and insecurity after two presidential candidates both claimed victory. Liberians, who had been refugees in Ivory Coast just a couple of years earlier, are hosting many refugees in villages along the border and others are being relocated to camps by UNHCR.
More Ivorians are crossing into Liberia daily as violence intensifies and civil war becomes imminent.
Commissioned by UNHCR. See more photos at www.glennagordon.com.
