Print Study Room: Human Rights and Development

Sanlé Sory’s images, like Je vais décoller document the transition of this new country and its young people. The subjects appear eager and excited while also portraying a sense of strength and power. The sense of new found freedom and endless possibilities are shown through the use of the plane image and being able to “take off” as a nation. In this newly urbanizing country, viewers can see the subjects trying to establish themselves in the way they want to be perceived on a worldwide platform. Je vais décoller highlights the social and cultural blossoming of the youth, now discovering their freedom, and a country that has escaped from colonialism to prosper and reinvent itself.

In regions where water is already a scarcity, this process has devastating effects on the local environment and population. The question mark on the oil drum serves as an indication of skepticism for the viewer. Who is profiting from this oil? Where is it being taken? In terms of natural resources, Africa is one of the richest continents on the planet, yet a majority of its inhabitants live in extreme poverty. This can be attributed to the patrimonialist political order that plagues many African states. There is a diverse set of factors that play into this phenomena, and many of them stem from the long lasting socio-political dynamics constructed through colonial strategies of divide and conquer.

Wangechi Mutu was born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya in 1972. She draws on a wealth of exposure and perspective from her childhood in Kenya and higher education in the United Kingdom and America. Mutu’s work pokes at the natural curiosity of the human psyche with work that pushes its audience to consider the ethical history of medicine and the oppression of Black women. In Kenya, the status of women has improved in recent years, but severe inequalities and injustices are still present. For instance: Kenyan women currently have ownership or rights to less than 1% of the country’s land, and are extremely at risk of gender-based violence. Similar injustices exist in the United States: Black women still face many obstacles in health. Medical racism is incredibly pervasive and maternal health in Black women in America has reached a crisis level. Mutu’s racialized and gendered lens has allowed her to make bold and powerful statements in her art and to speak out for Black women across the globe.

Sanlé Sory focuses on demonstrating the beauty of his country’s essence and culture in the purest form. Shooting with his Relleiflex camera, the artist captures his subjects candidly and in their element, embracing their way of life. Sanlé’s thematic approach is based on the intersection between modern customs and culture-rich traditions. In Je vais décoller, the photographer emphasizes the distinction between these components by blending the subject with an organic feature, that being the tapestry as a background. Through the use of shapes and linear qualities mixed with the abstract, he manages for the piece to come together. Sanlé Sory’s goal is to capture the beauty and essence of Burkina Faso’s values and present them in different scenarios to document the transition of his country. It’s astonishing how Sanlé Sory can produce such a powerful image with the absence of color. In fact, the monochromatic constituent of the photo represents the old-fashioned culture of Burkina Faso. Essentially, Sanlé Sory conveys a fluid compatibility in the intersection between praised cultural traditions and modern habits.

Speaking to issues of resource extraction and export dependency, Toguo poses inside a white oil drum with “Afrika Oil?” painted in red block letters across the front. Only his head and neck are visible above the rim, as if drowning in dependency; his mouth is closed around an empty plastic water bottle, grasping for buoyancy, or for a sip of water that isn’t there. The bold text on the oil drum seems to ask “will Africa always be defined by the finite source of oil?”

According to Toguo “[The] question mark is precisely an inquiry about the wealth of Africa, about where this oil wealth is going…[and] leaves room for the imagination, for all the questions that the viewer might ask.” Toguo’s work is a perfect example of artistic activism, addressing issues of resource dependency and allocation in Africa.

In the fifteenth century, Portuguese traders began enslaving people from the Bight of Benin. The English and French joined the Atlantic slave trade shortly after, bringing nearly two million people from the area, resulting in the loss of generations of able bodies and human capital. Later, the French colonization changed existing political and gender systems. Elders and women lost much of their authority, and men became favored in positions of power. Rejection of colonial influence on the other hand, led to a new embrace of traditional values and culture. This can be seen in how Agbojélou dressed his subjects. Bodybuilding became popular in the 1960s and is an example of the alternate masculinities which grew out of post-colonial contexts and the weak economy with high levels of unemployment. Finding new ways to demonstrate masculinity emerged when the traditional task of providing for the family was no longer accessible to men in urban areas.

Camara is in her late seventies and is known for her figurines and art pieces she designs from clay. She grew up in a ceramist home, as her family would make pots and pans to sell in order to make a living. She also has faced a series of obstacles in her life: As she was forced into marriage at 15 and was impregnated four times. This documentary introduces themes of hope and resilience, as the strength that this gift gives Camara is juxtaposed with the incredibly difficult circumstances she has dealt with. Giving Birth touches themes of reproductive rights, gender inequities and gender empowerment. Camara’s experience and struggle as a low-income, African woman is a depiction of our class theme of incorporating gender equity and reproductive rights into SDG’S, and into our globe in general.

Sory’s photo studio attracted a diverse range of visitors, meaning that he was able to capture the country’s mix of tradition and new sense of urbanism (Seymour 2019). This can be seen in his piece “Je vais decoller”, which translates to “I am taking off” in English, and depicts a young person interacting with the airplane backdrop, posing as though they are boarding a plane. This picture contributes to Sory’s attempt to document the overall feelings of freedom, joy, and hope of the Burkinabé people. However, the airplane backdrop and the lavish clothing in the pictures could also highlight the remnants of western ideals and their definitions of success and stability. Ibrahima Sory Sanle’s work connects to themes of globalization, economic growth, and modernity/cultural identity. His photos are able to bring a personal perspective of what the beginnings of globalization and modernization look like in a country that had only recently gained its freedom.

The third piece of Toguo’s Stupid African President series tells the story of Cameroon President Paul Biya succumbing to the dominance of MNCs, particularly as they relate to oil and natural resource extraction. The piece represents the Cameroonian citizen, sitting inside an empty, white-painted oil barrel with the words “Afrika Oil?” outside of the barrel in red. While several African countries like Nigeria, Angola, Congo, and Cameroon are rich in oil, it is unclear as to where the wealth from the oil is distributed, particularly as so many Africans experience poverty and food insecurity. Toguo leaves this question up to the viewer to discover, but he points out that MNCs exploit lands and people of Africa and corrupt political leaders play a role in this.

South Africans experience unique and severe discrimination because of a black heterosexual cultural norm, which allows for protections of white LGBTQ+ individuals while excluding black LGBTQ+ individuals. Black queer women often find themselves at the height of this oppression- because they have an intersectional identity- and often find themselves excluded from HIV discourses despite being affected by HIV, and have they been victims of corrective rape. Overall, Muholi’s work has been a provocative and effective way to call attention to these issues in a way that allows for the black queer community in South Africa to speak for themselves through visual activism.