Dynamic Africa
Formerly, "This is Africa/fyeahAfrica".
(Profile Photo by Mama Casset)
DISCLAIMER:
I do not endorse any of the products or opinions shared on this site, nor do I claim any of the work posted here to be my own - except where stated. All posts originally made by me are credited. If no credit is given then the work is either my own/written by me or reblogged from another source.
A LITTLE ABOUT ME:
Student, 24
Based in Cape Town, South Africa
From Lagos, Nigeria
Want to advertise through us? Send an email to dynamicafricablog@gmail.com
(As an unemployed media student, all donations go into ensuring my survival in this cruel world and future projects I hope to embark on).
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(since Oct. 21th 2012)
In light of the recent UN report that was published and circulated earlier this week, highlighting the ‘misdeeds’ of United Nations Peacekeeping forces globally - including sexual abuse, money laundering, fraud and illegal transportation of minerals across international borders, I remembered a highly disturbing documentary I watched in one of my political science classes whilst in college.
The documentary, ‘Blue Helmets: Peace & Dishonor’, focuses on the heinous sexual abuse crimes committed by UN peacekeeping forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other African countries.
Unfortunately, my internet won’t allow me to watch the film at a normal rate but based on my first viewing of the documentary, it provides a critical insight into the systematic criminal activities that take place through the abuse of power of UN peacekeeping forces, and the injustices that are insufficiently dealt with punished.
Born in 1948 in Kimbembele Ihunga, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, structural sculpture artist Bodys Isek Kingelez or Jean Baptiste is known for his incredibly detailed and colourful mixed-media architectural model-like sculptures which he calls “Architecture Maquettique”.
Currently based in the capital city Kinshasa, Kingelez has been making these sculptures since the mid-1980s.
READER SUBMISSION
“This picture of my mother was taken in 1979 in Kinshasa, Congo DR. She is a mukongo from the Bakongo people.”
submitted by Mavonda
![AFRICA AT THE OSCARS #13: Rachel Mwanza on the Red Carpet
[insert fist-pumping gif here]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/b0bf956e2d396461a1271a40545dfa4b/tumblr_mir2u60zYE1rqkjy0o1_500.jpg)
AFRICA AT THE OSCARS #13: Rachel Mwanza on the Red Carpet
[insert fist-pumping gif here]
AFRICAN LOVE SONGS VALENTINE’S DAY PLAYLIST #10:Awilo Longomba - Karolina
FRIDAY NIGHT SOUKOUS: Felix Wazekwa - Que Demande le Peuple
With the all the tempo changes, you feel as though you’re getting various songs in one continuous stream. That’s what I love about Lingala music.
Ghana vs DR Congo AFCON highlights
Multi-media collages from Kananga-born Congolese artist Kura Shomali, who often appropriates the works of iconic African photographers such as Malick Sidibe and Samuel Fosso, as inspiration for his artistically chaotic, yet organized, works of art.
DYNAMIC AFRICA HOLIDAY GIFT LIST ITEM #12: A Congo Chronicle: Patrice Lumumba in Urban Art
A Congo Chronicle: Patrice Lumumba in Urban Art provides a unique encounter with the Independence movement that took hold in urban cafés of the Congo.
This study is developed around a series of about fifty urban art or popular paintings, a genre traceable to the 1920s, by the influential artist Tshibumba Kanda-Matulu. It chronicles contemporary social and political realities in its depiction of the dramatic political career of Patrice Lumumba, the father of Congo independence who became the nation’s first Prime Minister in 1960, but was soon after killed under mysterious circumstances.
This book helps us understand not only how Congolese view the turbulent years of their independence, but also how it relates to their beliefs. The paintings show how art contributes to the creation of a national history and national heroes, and shapes the national consciousness in a newly independent, multi-cultural society. Essays discuss popular urban art, the life of Patrice Lumumba, Tshibumba’s series of Lumumba paintings, the Congolese memory of Lumumba, and Congolese cultural heroes.
DYNAMIC AFRICA HOLIDAY GIFT LIST ITEM #3:
If you’re lucky enough to hail from any of these West and Central African cities (more at their store), Fashizblack has you covered (quite literally) with their brand new range of exclusive t-shirts and sweatshirts.
The typography on each shirt/sweatshirt features graphics of a popular fabric print from each of these cities such as Adinkra in Abidjan and Kuba of Kinshasa.
It’s often said that “necessity is the mother of invention” and this idiom could not be further from the truth in the case of self-taught Rwandan engineer Anastase Tabaro.
With no more than six years of elementary-level education, Tabaro proves that sometimes, determination, dedication and initiative are enough to achieve great feats of innovation. The 59-year-old, who started his research in 1990 with the objective of selling power to his neighbours, has now built a hydroelectric system that provides power to some 700 households in and around his village in rural Rwanda.
“I grew up in [neighboring] Democratic Republic of Congo and my village had electricity,” Tabaro says. “Then my family moved to Rwanda and our village had no electricity. I felt I couldn’t live without electricity so I started to research by myself.”
The MOBO Best African Act nominees for 2012 are:
- Amadou & Mariam (Mali)
- Camp Mulla (Kenya)
- Cabo Snoop (Angola)
- Sarkodie Duncwills (Ghana)
- Fally Ipupa (DR Congo)
- D’Banj (Nigeria)
- Spoek Mathambo (South Africa)
- P Square (Nigeria)
- The Very Best (Malawi)
- Fatoumata Diawara (Mali)
Read more about them and vote here!
War Child* teamed up with art charity AptART* to paint a mural on the side of a street children’s drop-in centre in Goma, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The children were involved in designing the mural and painted it themselves. It includes the lion (symbol of the DRC), the colours of the Congolese flag, and a big peace symbol.
Some of the 45 children involved in the project stand in front of the finished mural
The children also received lessons in portrait painting. Most of the street children War Child works with had never used a paintbrush before and very few have ever attended school. Each child was given their photograph, a paintbrush and a canvas to put their new skills to work.
The self portraits of the children are ready to be stretched on to canvas to be used in an exhibition.
Two of the children work on their self-portraits.
Decades of conflict and poverty have left many families unable to properly support their children.
The centres supported by War Child are a haven where children can eat, wash their clothes and get access to the education and counselling that help to rebuild their lives.
More than half of the girls supported by War Child in Goma are survivors of sexual violence.
Much of Goma is still covered in lava after the eruption of the nearby Mount Nyiragongo in 2002, which devastated the town.
The children standing in front of their mural.
(source)
*This is my first time coming across either of these two organizations and so far I have not found any alarming or concerning information about them. If anyone has information or any criticism about either War Child or AptART, feel free to drop it in dynamicafrica’s inbox as my quick research was probably not thorough enough.
A young Congolese girl wearing a necklace of photographer’s flashbulbs strung together on a string. Photograph by Nat Farbman.
Monieka, Belgian Congo
June 1947.
(via manufactoriel)
