Issue # 06
Female African photographers dominate this year’s edition of the prestigious award
The road to Kaduna
Follow the livestream through the link below: Studio ZAM: In conversation with Marcus Tebogo Desando from ZAM on Vimeo . We're looking forward to you joining us at Studio ZAM livestream with Marcus Tebogo Desando, the newly appointed director of the Prince Claus Fund.The programme, moderated by Augustina Austin aka Ms. Aba, will start at 20h00 exactly.
Follow the livestream through the link below: Studio ZAM: In conversation with Marcus Tebogo Desando from ZAM on Vimeo . We're looking forward to you joining us at Studio ZAM livestream with Marcus Tebogo Desando, the newly appointed director of the Prince Claus Fund.The programme,...
This year marks my fourth time serving as a member of the panel judging the annual Contemporary African Photography (CAP) Prize. Every year it offers my fellow jurors and I a unique opportunity to engage with a dazzling array of photography from and about the continent, spanning all styles and disciplines. But the judging structure is designed in such a way - we submit our ratings privately and they are totalled up - that even the judges do not know the final winners until they are announced. This...
This year marks my fourth time serving as a member of the panel judging the annual Contemporary African Photography (CAP) Prize. Every year it offers my fellow jurors and I a unique opportunity to engage with a dazzling array of photography from and about the continent, spanning all...
Hosted by Musawenkosi Cabe, Radio New Frame unearths the roots of Afrikaans - once the ‘language of the White oppressor’ - and focuses on contemporary Black Afrikaans. The programme also tackles the misconception that Nelson Mandela rejected the use of violence in the struggle against Apartheid. A new book reconstructs his role as commander-in-chief of Umkhonto weSizwe and its war against Africa’s strongest army. Listen here. New Frame is one of our favourite not-for-profit social justice media...
Hosted by Musawenkosi Cabe, Radio New Frame unearths the roots of Afrikaans - once the ‘language of the White oppressor’ - and focuses on contemporary Black Afrikaans. The programme also tackles the misconception that Nelson Mandela rejected the use of violence in the struggle...
After a two-year hiatus, the Amsterdam Cinedans Festival returns with a very special edition. Opening on June 22, 2022, the state-of-the-art international dance film presents a wide range of productions, and on Saturday 25 June the works of black choreographers, companies and dancers will be celebrated at an event titled ‘Black Dance Matters’. The programme brings you reflection of diversity in dance and society and features relevant documentaries and a shorts programme, followed by a discussion...
After a two-year hiatus, the Amsterdam Cinedans Festival returns with a very special edition. Opening on June 22, 2022, the state-of-the-art international dance film presents a wide range of productions, and on Saturday 25 June the works of black choreographers, companies and...
“If I were to ask the many Global Northerners filling my home continent questions about who they are, where they’re from or what they’re doing there, I would be ashamed of my pettiness.” “No human desires another to wallow in guilt. That would be selfish. An expression of guilt does not delete the past.” The 2022 ZAM Nelson Mandela Lecture, given by Kenyan writer Yvonne Owuor on February 6th 2022 at the International Theatre Amsterdam. Price €5,95 + shipping (Netherlands €3, Europe/International...
“If I were to ask the many Global Northerners filling my home continent questions about who they are, where they’re from or what they’re doing there, I would be ashamed of my pettiness.” “No human desires another to wallow in guilt. That would be selfish. An expression of guilt does...
The story of a government that fails to help cattle herders, an army that fails to fight bandits, a train that fails to safely get from A to B, and the bandits who benefit from this mess. Any passenger trying to travel between Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, and Kaduna, the northern region’s hub about 200 kilometres away, comes away with the impression that the loose bands of thugs locally known as ‘bandits’ are now more powerful than Nigeria’s government and army. For a long time, making the journey by...
The story of a government that fails to help cattle herders, an army that fails to fight bandits, a train that fails to safely get from A to B, and the bandits who benefit from this mess. Any passenger trying to travel between Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, and Kaduna, the northern...
Op een vroege ochtend in Lagos ziet Femke van Zeijl een waterreservoir rakelings langs haar raam naar beneden storten. Dit incident en vooral de nasleep ervan brengen direct aan het licht hoezeer het dagelijks leven in deze miljoenenstad verschilt van leven in de Nederlandse maatschappij. Terwijl van Zeijl nog zit te bedenken welke gemeentelijke dienst ze moet bellen, hebben haar buren al minstens twee oplossingen bedacht en zijn ze aan de uitvoering ervan begonnen. De doe-het-zelf maatschappij...
Op een vroege ochtend in Lagos ziet Femke van Zeijl een waterreservoir rakelings langs haar raam naar beneden storten. Dit incident en vooral de nasleep ervan brengen direct aan het licht hoezeer het dagelijks leven in deze miljoenenstad verschilt van leven in de Nederlandse...
If you’re lucky enough to find yourself on the sunny streets of Amsterdam this summer, there are some treats in store! Two new exhibitions featuring work by African photographers await you, each exploring radically different visions of the world. Huis Marseille plays host to The Beauty of the World so Heavy, a group exhibition in which four photographers with very diverse practices explore the sharpness and softness of earthly existence. This show marks the European debut of South African...
If you’re lucky enough to find yourself on the sunny streets of Amsterdam this summer, there are some treats in store! Two new exhibitions featuring work by African photographers await you, each exploring radically different visions of the world. Huis Marseille plays host to The...
A new BBC Africa Eye/BBC Eye investigation reveals children in Africa are being exploited to make personalised videos, including racist content, for sale on Chinese websites and social media. Watch their shocking report here:
A new BBC Africa Eye/BBC Eye investigation reveals children in Africa are being exploited to make personalised videos, including racist content, for sale on Chinese websites and social media. Watch their shocking report here:
The South African artist and winner of the 2021 ABN AMRO Kunstprijs is actively participating in this process of re-shaping a world away from capitalist spaces where Afro-pessimism rules. In today’s climate, and with the recent research outcomes around this bank’s colonial past, Neo’s work is a timely response. A response in which his work provides an image of Blackness which is reflected in itself rather than in the gaze of whiteness. Let us therefore, in Neo’s words, thank God and the gods that...
The South African artist and winner of the 2021 ABN AMRO Kunstprijs is actively participating in this process of re-shaping a world away from capitalist spaces where Afro-pessimism rules. In today’s climate, and with the recent research outcomes around this bank’s colonial past,...
This year's celebration of Africa Day brings you five days of music, talks, club nights, films and networking both online and in real life In a unique collaboration between Omek, Amsterdam’s home for the global bicultural community, and Africadelic, celebraters of all things Afrodisaporic, this event will centre around Africa Day, which marks the foundation of the Organisation of African Unity. Though Africa Day has been celebrated every year since May 25th 1963, its recognition varies...
This year's celebration of Africa Day brings you five days of music, talks, club nights, films and networking both online and in real life In a unique collaboration between Omek, Amsterdam’s home for the global bicultural community, and Africadelic, celebraters of all things...
African photography is rarely exhibited in Japan. For the past ten years Kyotographie , the largest international photography festival in the archipelago, has been doing its best to reverse this underrepresentation and reveal the continent’s talents in Japan. For a month, until last weekend, Prince Gyasi’s pictures flew over the heads of shoppers in an old-school shopping arcade in the centre of Kyoto, the former imperial capital of Japan. The young Ghanaian artist took the pictures at his local...
African photography is rarely exhibited in Japan. For the past ten years Kyotographie , the largest international photography festival in the archipelago, has been doing its best to reverse this underrepresentation and reveal the continent’s talents in Japan. For a month, until last...
Two exhibitions, one in Cape Town and the other 8000 kilometres away in Amsterdam, showcase the works of South African artist Neo Matloga, winner of the 2021 ABN AMRO Art Award. Déjà Vu, Neo Matloga’s first solo exhibition in Cape Town, opened earlier this month at Stevenson Gallery. In this exhibition, Matloga moves away from the cinematic, interconnected narratives that characterised his previ-ous bodies of work. Instead, the artist’s new works are individual scenes that herald a new chapter of...
Two exhibitions, one in Cape Town and the other 8000 kilometres away in Amsterdam, showcase the works of South African artist Neo Matloga, winner of the 2021 ABN AMRO Art Award. Déjà Vu, Neo Matloga’s first solo exhibition in Cape Town, opened earlier this month at Stevenson...
April 6th used to be a public holiday in Apartheid South Africa. It was supposed to be the day that Jan Van Riebeeck arrived in South Africa in 1652 as the chief colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company’s new colonial settlement to settle what is now Cape Town. Who of my generation does not know this? It was drilled into all our minds at primary (read: elementary) school. And even if we were not lucky enough to go to school, the mythology certainly did not pass us by. The version of...
April 6th used to be a public holiday in Apartheid South Africa. It was supposed to be the day that Jan Van Riebeeck arrived in South Africa in 1652 as the chief colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company’s new colonial settlement to settle what is now Cape Town. Who of...
Only by grasping the political processes that reproduce death, destruction and destitution will Kenyans finally exorcise the demons of their history. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness in this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” – Ephesians 6:12 The first episode of the popular Netflix series Narcos opens with the title card: “Magical realism is defined as what happens when a...
Only by grasping the political processes that reproduce death, destruction and destitution will Kenyans finally exorcise the demons of their history. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness in...
While the resources herders and farmers compete over – fertile land and water – are rapidly dwindling, the populations of both groups are fast growing. The result? Distrust. Attacks. Counterattacks. Even more distrust. And then a seemingly unending cycle of brutality and bloodbath. A bare-chested old man lies in the emergency room of a government hospital in northeast Nigeria. An intravenous line sticks out from his right arm and an arrow from his left shoulder. A second arrow, with the tip now...
While the resources herders and farmers compete over – fertile land and water – are rapidly dwindling, the populations of both groups are fast growing. The result? Distrust. Attacks. Counterattacks. Even more distrust. And then a seemingly unending cycle of brutality and bloodbath....
Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki, who has died at the age of 90, was born of November 15,1931 in Othaya, Nyeri, in the central highlands of Kenya. He spent a lifetime in public service. He served as president of Kenya – the third after independence – from 2002 to 2013, a critical period in Kenya’s transition from a one party state to democracy. He also served as the fourth vice-president (1978 to 1988) under President Daniel arap Moi. To his friends and admirers, Kibaki was a gentleman who survived the...
Emilio Stanley Mwai Kibaki, who has died at the age of 90, was born of November 15,1931 in Othaya, Nyeri, in the central highlands of Kenya. He spent a lifetime in public service. He served as president of Kenya – the third after independence – from 2002 to 2013, a critical period...
Colonial legacies, fundraising difficulties as well as a structural lack of interest from many African governments towards contemporary art and culture still complicate the march towards equal representation of countries in the Venice Biennale. These are the words of Anna Kućma, ZAM's new photo and web editor. In this magazine she guides you through the African share in what is probably the world's leading explosion of contemporary art. The good news: in the upcoming edition, opening on April 23,...
Colonial legacies, fundraising difficulties as well as a structural lack of interest from many African governments towards contemporary art and culture still complicate the march towards equal representation of countries in the Venice Biennale. These are the words of Anna Kućma,...
The Venice Biennial, officially opening on April 23, is perhaps Europe’s most glamorous international forum for contemporary art. During the opening week of the exhibition there are more artists, curators, collectors, and art critics gathered in one place at one time than seem to exist anywhere else in the world. The biennale format has inherited many characteristics from its forebears, the World Fairs. The event is organised around a format of international competition, with national exhibitions...
The Venice Biennial, officially opening on April 23, is perhaps Europe’s most glamorous international forum for contemporary art. During the opening week of the exhibition there are more artists, curators, collectors, and art critics gathered in one place at one time than seem to...
In this Zimbabwean activist’s view todays’ rulers of the country are no different from the colonial settlers. On April 12, Zimbabwean activist Peter Mutasa was presented with the Febe Elizabeth Velásquez Trade Union Rights Prize, which had been awarded to him a year earlier by the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions (FNV). With the prize, named after the murdered Salvadoran trade union leader Febe Elizabeth Vélasquez (1962-1989), the FNV honours people who have dedicated themselves in a special way...
In this Zimbabwean activist’s view todays’ rulers of the country are no different from the colonial settlers. On April 12, Zimbabwean activist Peter Mutasa was presented with the Febe Elizabeth Velásquez Trade Union Rights Prize, which had been awarded to him a year earlier by the...
Russia’ invasion of Ukraine in late February has already caused to two million refugees to flee the country. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees predicts that another four million will be displaced if the conflict continues. Although all neighbouring European Union countries have pledged to accept refugees from Ukraine, as people flee across borders, a complicated story emerges of who are perceived and received as good, bad and ideal refugees in modern Europe. Take Poland — a country...
Russia’ invasion of Ukraine in late February has already caused to two million refugees to flee the country. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees predicts that another four million will be displaced if the conflict continues. Although all neighbouring European Union...
