The African Gaze: Photography, Cinema and Power

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

An accessible yet critical introduction to African photography and cinema from the mid-20th century to the present day.

The African Gaze is a comprehensive exploration of postcolonial and contemporary photography and cinema from Africa. Drawing from archival imagery and documents, interviews with the photographers and filmmakers (in some cases family members/close associates if the artist is deceased), and contributions from writers, scholars and curators, it maps a comprehensive introduction to African moving and still imagery.

This is a hugely important and timely publication - engagement with Black and African histories is stronger than ever before (and long overdue). The major names of African photography, such as Malick Sidib, Sanl Sory and Seydou Keta, have become highly collectible in the art market, while African cinema, pioneered by filmmakers such as Ousmane Sembne in 1960s Senegal, is now recognized for its creative innovation and storytelling.

For anyone drawn to African photography and film, this book will provide an exciting and accessible overview.

Featuring interviews with Samuel Fosso and Souleymane Ciss.

Reviews

'An important and timely edition ... a fantastic introduction to an area that has been all too often overlooked ... highly recommended' - Amateur Photography
'A meticulously crafted archival compilation, The African Gaze allows readers to understand the postcolonial circumstances that forged these photographers and filmmakers' - Harper's Bazaar
'A spellbinding journey into the history and significance of pan-African art It reveals photography as a powerful mechanism for expressing African subjectivities while also providing a visual library for understanding the influence and significance of postcolonial representations' - Musee
'Packed with authoritative insight... An essential, encyclopedic study of African image-makers' - BookPage
'The African Gaze goes beyond charting how Africans have resisted the fetishisation and othering of their continent by the West. Instead, it chooses to illustrate what the resistance has created: powerful modes of visual storytelling that are up to the world-changing task of helping people to be certain of who they are and from where they wish to speak' - ArtReview
'An impressive overview of pan-African artistic expression through the work of 25 photographers and 25 filmmakers Gorgeous [and] significant' - Shelf Awareness

Author Bio

Amy Sall is a writer, independent researcher, and collector-archivist based in New York. She is the founding editor of SUNU: Journal of African Affairs, Critical Thought + Aesthetics, a pan-African, post-disciplinary platform exploring the artistic, cultural and intellectual production of Africa and the diaspora across time and space. Amy holds a master's degree in Human Rights Studies from Columbia University. As a Part-time Lecturer at The New School, New York, she conceived and taught two courses, 'The African Gaze: Visual Culture of Postcolonial Africa and the Social Imagination' and 'Third Cinema & the Counter Narratives'. Her private collection, The Sall Collection, is an assemblage of studio and other vernacular photography, printed matter and ephemera with a pan-African focus. Amy's work and interests explore the theory and praxis of cultural sovereignty, cultural preservation, anti-/de-/post-coloniality, human rights, visual culture and the archive.