The theme of this panel is to discuss ways in which approaches to African photographs differ and mutually inform. One of the key contrasts is between those taken by African studio photographers - as represented by the photographs in an exhibition organised by the convenors (to take place at the National Portrait Gallery in June as part of Africa 2005) and those taken by expatriate Europeans.
The theme of this panel is to discuss ways in which approaches to African photographs differ and mutually inform. One of the key contrasts is between those taken by African studio photographers - as represented by the photographs in an exhibition organised by the convenors - and those taken by expatriate Europeans. Much of the work of studio photographers such as Keita and Sidibe has been distributed as 'art' losing all trace of its original context or meaning. How much difference does it make (and to whom) when we know not only the names of the people in the photograph but something of the reasons behind the commissioning of the piece? How can the work of rural photographers be archived so as to enable it to be studied by future generations of scholars in Africa and elsewhere? Is digitisation a solution or part of the problem, deepening the digital divide? The initiatives of the West African Museums Project provide a pertinent example for this debate. To explore these issues we have invited participants from a range of different backgrounds to contribute to the panel.
Backgound to the photographic practice of Samuel Finlak and Joseph Chila; location and history of their work and their collaboration with DZ; their participation in the National Portrait Gallery residency and exhibition.
Cameroonian studio photographers' photographs of persons (which may not have been produced by photographing in a studio) may be occasioned by different needs. Whether the motivation is to fulfil the bureaucratic requirements for a passport photograph or marriage certificate, to (com)memorate a friendship or a family, or to copy for whatever purpose an existing photograph, however, the personal and social value of the photograph can seem to depend on an uncanny power of the photograph to allow us (we who have become viewers) to see the people pictured there. According to some views of photographic imaging, it is as if the photograph offers 'perceptual contact' with those it 'shows', and this not only buttresses the role of the 'indexical iconicity' of the photograph in furnishing us a warrant of likeness, but also goes some way to explaining commonplaces such as the uniquely poignant fascination invoked by photographs of people for whom we mourn. As compelling as this account is, it neglects the role of 'recognition' and 'recognisability' in making photographs into useful image-objects, and consequently fails to register the interpretative vulnerability and ontological precariousness of the photographic image when treated apart from actual occasions of use, when the photograph more often than not appears as something constructed and construed as a 'prop' for social activity. These considerations sketch the terms in which I will explore the notion of a 'cultural biography' in relation to the photographic images in the exhibition of the work of two Cameroonian photographers at the National Portrait Gallery.