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 All posts originally made by me are credited.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)
A group portrait of Yoruba women wearing Aso oke. 1890s.
Vintage Nigeria
Akan Fishermen, The Gold Coast, Ghana (2009 Series)
by Elisabeth SundayThe Akan Fishermen have been fishing the shores of West Africa over hundreds of generations. I met six Akan fishermen along the shores of the Gold Coast in 2009. After talking a while, they began to express concern over the declining fisheries. They fish by night from handmade canoes using only lines and small nets. I asked the men if I could photograph them and they agreed. I urged them to express their love for the sea by using the fish they capture as metaphor in the way they hold them. They chose the fish and made their own poses understanding that their body language and expressions would tell their story. I photographed the same men in 2010 and again in 2011. This last March of 2011, they were much more comfortable with the camera and their deep connection to the sea and to themselves is fully evident.
Works by George Afedzi-Hughes
Originally from Ghana, George Afedzi Hughes studied painting at The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, College of Art, where he earned a BA in Art specializing in Painting and Drawing and also an MA in Art Education. He later received an MFA in Painting from Bowling Green State University. George moved to the United States in 1994 after a major solo exhibition of works he created in London were exhibited in Accra, Ghana at The Artists Alliance Gallery.
“My work utilizes the turbulence of colonialism as a premise to highlight parallels between that violent history and contemporary global conflicts. In today’s informational age global occurrences of violence reach us through the media: creating a network of virtual simulations of distress. My work interprets in visual form the spectacle of information, knowledge and subjectivity.”
(via abstrackafricana)
Women at a local market in Ibadan, Nigeria.
1974.
Bruno Barbey.
My first short Film “GHANA” - A love letter to the place I was born and raised. Enjoy :) . #gyimahgariba
(via welovewestafrica)
Camp de Thiaroye (1988) - Ousmane Sembene & Thierno Faty Sow
“We’re back from Europe where we fought your enemies. Now we fight for Africa.”
![fylatinamericanhistory:
Cândido da Fonseca Galvão, also known as Oba II d’Africa (1845-1890) was a Brazilian man who fought in the War of the Triple Alliance (also called the Paraguayan War) and claimed to be the grandson of an African prince whose son had been brought to Brazil as a slave. Galvão himself was born a free man in Bahia, and enlisted in the military at a time when Black slavery was still legal in what was then the Empire of Brazil.
Galvão was the grandson of the powerful African prince Alafin Abiodun, who unified the Yoruba kingdom of Oyó in the late eighteenth century. Galvão’s father fought in the wars that raged in that region of Africa in the early nineteenth century, was captured in battle, and sold into slavery. He was then transported to Bahia. With the help of friends among the Yoruba community in Salvador, Galvão’s father quickly purchased his freedom. He then married and had children. As an offspring of freedpersons, Cândido Galvão was raised as a free black man near the town of Lençóis in the interior of Bahia.
Dom Obá II considered it his duty to fight for his country in the war against Paraguay. “As the patriotic soldier that I am, I understand that I have only been doing my duty in taking an active part in all the matters that I understand to be grave.” Enlisting as a Voluntário in the all-black Zuavo company that departed from Lençóis on May 1865, Galvão remained at the front until wounded in his right hand in August 1866. After his return to Bahia, where he remained through the decade of the 1870s, Galvão petitioned government officials for recognition of his service during the war and for monetary compensation. His experience in Paraguay inspired his commitment to ending slavery in Brazil and his pride in being a black man.
Galvão settled in Rio de Janeiro in 1880, where he gained renown. The wealthy considered him a “disturbed veteran” (uma espécie de veterano resmungão) and “folkloric aberration” due to his outspokenness and appearance in attire that included a long black morning coat, tall hat, gloves, umbrella, and walking cane. An activist of the first order, Galvão met personally with the Emperor [Pedro II of Brazil] 125 at public meetings from June 1882 to December 1884! Dom Obá garnered great respect among “the Blacks and the Browns” (the terms commonly used by Galvão) residing in the city. Slaves, freedpersons, and free persons of color all provided financial support that enabled the prince to publish articles in newspapers. In his writings, Galvão praised the contributions of black and brown soldiers during the Paraguayan war, condemned the racism he witnessed in Brazil, and called for an end to slavery.
(Source: Dale Torston Graden, From Slavery to Freedom in Brazil: Bahia, 1835-1900.)
Galvão died in 1890, shortly after the abolition of slavery in Brazil and the establishment of the Brazilian republic. An biography of Galvão, entitled Prince of the People, was published in 1993.](http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficheiro:Dom_Oba_II.jpg)
Cândido da Fonseca Galvão, also known as Oba II d’Africa (1845-1890) was a Brazilian man who fought in the War of the Triple Alliance (also called the Paraguayan War) and claimed to be the grandson of an African prince whose son had been brought to Brazil as a slave. Galvão himself was born a free man in Bahia, and enlisted in the military at a time when Black slavery was still legal in what was then the Empire of Brazil.
Galvão was the grandson of the powerful African prince Alafin Abiodun, who unified the Yoruba kingdom of Oyó in the late eighteenth century. Galvão’s father fought in the wars that raged in that region of Africa in the early nineteenth century, was captured in battle, and sold into slavery. He was then transported to Bahia. With the help of friends among the Yoruba community in Salvador, Galvão’s father quickly purchased his freedom. He then married and had children. As an offspring of freedpersons, Cândido Galvão was raised as a free black man near the town of Lençóis in the interior of Bahia.
Dom Obá II considered it his duty to fight for his country in the war against Paraguay. “As the patriotic soldier that I am, I understand that I have only been doing my duty in taking an active part in all the matters that I understand to be grave.” Enlisting as a Voluntário in the all-black Zuavo company that departed from Lençóis on May 1865, Galvão remained at the front until wounded in his right hand in August 1866. After his return to Bahia, where he remained through the decade of the 1870s, Galvão petitioned government officials for recognition of his service during the war and for monetary compensation. His experience in Paraguay inspired his commitment to ending slavery in Brazil and his pride in being a black man.
Galvão settled in Rio de Janeiro in 1880, where he gained renown. The wealthy considered him a “disturbed veteran” (uma espécie de veterano resmungão) and “folkloric aberration” due to his outspokenness and appearance in attire that included a long black morning coat, tall hat, gloves, umbrella, and walking cane. An activist of the first order, Galvão met personally with the Emperor [Pedro II of Brazil] 125 at public meetings from June 1882 to December 1884! Dom Obá garnered great respect among “the Blacks and the Browns” (the terms commonly used by Galvão) residing in the city. Slaves, freedpersons, and free persons of color all provided financial support that enabled the prince to publish articles in newspapers. In his writings, Galvão praised the contributions of black and brown soldiers during the Paraguayan war, condemned the racism he witnessed in Brazil, and called for an end to slavery.
(Source: Dale Torston Graden, From Slavery to Freedom in Brazil: Bahia, 1835-1900.)
Galvão died in 1890, shortly after the abolition of slavery in Brazil and the establishment of the Brazilian republic. An biography of Galvão, entitled Prince of the People, was published in 1993.
FILM OF THE DAY: Guelwaar (Dir. Ousmane Sembene)
Burial of a Christian political activist in a Muslim cemetery forces a conflict imbued with religious fervor. A satiric portrayal of religion and politics, sometimes humorous, sometimes deadly serious.
Touki Bouki (dir. Djibril Diop Mambéty)
(via mizoguchi)
Nigerian goal scorer Ahmed Musa celebrates with a fellow Eagles player after leading the AFCON 2013 champions to victory in their 1-0 win over Kenya in Nairobi on Wednesday, June 5th, as part of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.
Diminutive Russia-based Musa took Nigeria out of their 0-0 misery by scoring a uniquely-aimed goal that bounced its way into the Kenyan goal box.
As it stands, Nigeria lead their group with eight points, followed by Malawi with six, Namibia four and Kenya with two after four rounds. Only the group winners move on to the next round to eventually qualify for one of five places reserved for African teams at Brasil 2014.
Nigeria’s next challenge is the Confederations Cup that begins on June 15th in Brasil.
KUNLE ADEGBORIOYE
A Busy Day At Balogun (2008)
Oil and charcoal on canvas
134.6 x 134.6 cm. (53 x 53 in.))
The intricacies of braided hairstyles captured by Malian photographer Youssouf Sogodogo.
Born in 1976, Malian photographer Penda Diakité graduated from Promo-femme: Center for Audio Visual Education for Young Women in 1999 and after several internships and apprenticeships, she opened her own photography studio in 2002 called ‘Afrique Vision’.
Penda Diakité is one of the few women photographers is in Bamako, Mali, and she specializes in portrait photography as well as special events imagery.
Her studio photography, as seen above, carries the standard aesthetic format so often seen in studio portraiture in Africa, of individuals positioned in front of two-dimensional scenery.
(source)
My mother was a kept woman.
It was something we knew. We – my cousin Meze and I. It was something we knew without being told, the sort of knowledge that creeps up on you and without announcing itself makes your acquaintance.
We knew and even though we didn’t deny it it wasn’t something we went screaming from the roof-tops.
And we preferred that those who had gained this knowledge kept it to themselves.
I got my first black eye the day Damian bared the naked rump of my secret before the whole school.
“Your mother is fucking somebody’s husband!”
