ifa Gallery, Berlin, Germany
20 Jul 2017
Eric Gyamfi, Some of the LGBT community members organize a night of dance and performance for themselves after the international day against homophobia and transphobia event as a way to get to know other community members and to network. From the series Just Like Us, 2016. Courtesy the artist
This summer, Aperture magazine is presenting its 227th issue titled “Platform Africa”. “Platform Africa” takes an in-depth look at the dynamic spaces that have shaped conversations about photography in Africa for the last twenty-five years—the biennials, experimental art spaces, and educational workshops in which artists and audiences interact with photography.
The issue is edited in collaboration with Bisi Silva, founder and artistic director of the Centre for Contemporary Art in Lagos, Nigeria; John Fleetwood, former head of Johannesburg’s Market Photo Workshop and current director of Photo, a new African initiative; and Aïcha Diallo, editor of the online magazine Contemporary And (C&).
Coinciding with “Platform Africa”, C& and Aperture have produced a collaborative series of online-exclusive features about photography in Africa, published simultaneously by Aperture and C& from May to July 2017. Brendan Wattenberg, managing editor of Aperture magazine, and Aïcha Diallo (C&) will discuss this special edition with artists Akinbode Akinbiyi and Elsa M’bala, reflecting on the diverse conversations about African photography and image-making over the last twenty-five years.
Magazine Launch: Aperture “Platform Africa”
Thursday, 20 July, 7 pm,
at ifa Gallery Berlin
Event held in English
Free admission
Akinbode Akinbiyi (born to Nigerian parents in Oxford, UK, lives in Berlin) is a freelance photographer. He studied in Nigeria, England, and Germany. Akinbiyi’s primary photographic focus is on large, sprawling megacities. Wandering and meandering the highways and byways in an attempt to engage with the modern metropolis, he works primarily in Lagos, Cairo, Kinshasa, and Johannesburg. His work has been presented, most recently, in Afriques Capitales at La Villette, Paris, and documenta 14 in Athens and Kassel.
Elsa M’bala aka AMET (born in Yaoundé, Cameroon, lives in Germany) is an author, performer, and musician. As a social worker, she has realized projects with youth in Germany, Canada, and Jamaica. Since 2009 she has been a member of the band Rising Thoughts. The complex experience of living as a black woman between two worlds is a central theme of her artistic activity. In her texts and songs, M’bala takes a poetic and critical approach to investigating her lifeworlds, the conflicts that arise from these worlds, and her desire for change.
About “Untie to Tie – On Colonial Legacies and Contemporary Societies”
With the programme “Untie to Tie – On Colonial Legacies and Contemporary Societies”, the ifa Gallery Berlin invites to reflect on the impacts of colonial legacies, which continue to globally influence contemporary realities and everyday life. From March 2017 to March 2018, four chapters will address this topic through different lenses: global relatedness, urban cultures, intersectional feminism, and a closing chapter dedicated to riots and resistance.
Chapter 1: Global Relatedness
31.3.-11.6.2017
Chapter 2: Urban Cultures
23.6.-17.9.2017
Chapter 3: Intersectional Feminisms
29.9.2017-14.1.2018
Chapter 4: Riots and Resistance
26.1.-1.4.2018
