Flash Afrique!: Photography from West Africa

Terra incognito? Heart of darkness? How about stylish continent, as some magazine once wrote? The gigantic landmass that is Africa, over which a colonial shadow still looms, is a territory of projections and misunderstandings. The West African photographers presented in Flash Afrique!, including Philip Kwame Apagya, Dorris Haron Kasco, Seydou Keita, Boubacar Toure Mandemory, Bouna Medoune Seye, and Malick Sidibe, tell stories about the tension between dreams and reality. Elaborately arranged studio portraits reveal how Africa sees itself. Documentary images comment on the sheer craziness of overpopulated cities. And conversations with the photographers open up an art scene only recently begun to emerge from shadow.