How to celebrate Africa Day

How to celebrate Africa Day

How to celebrate Africa Day

Africa Day

How to celebrate Africa Day

May 25 is Africa Day, celebrating the African culture through food, dance and other roots. Africa Day was fist held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1963 when 32 countries came together to form the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). Now, the OAU has 53 countries.

With celebrations taking place across the globe – to understand Africa, its people and the diversity – see how you can learn more about the culture and how this can influence your photography.

African photographers to watch

Namsa Leuba

Of Swiss and Guinean decent, Leuba has received worldwide attention for her photography – especially her Ya Kala Ben series shot in Guinea. Speaking about her work, she said she was interested in “the construction and deconstruction of the body as well as the depiction of the invisible… I sought to touch the untouchable.”

Omar Victor Diop

Diop, also known as V!KTOR, is a self-taught photographer from Senegal who aims to “capture the diversity of modern African societies and lifestyles.”

His focus is the creative contemporary art scene in Africa with his series The Studio of Vanities.

Hélène Amouzou

Born in Togo, Amouzou creates haunting imagery that focuses on the issue of displacement of people and those in exile. She is said to be inspired by American photographer Francesca Woodman, and prefers to work with film in her photography exploiting the use of long exposures.

A recurring symbol in her work is a suitcase to represent her state of flux and transit. The African Photography Network describes Amouzou’s work as revealing “a constant questioning and search for the subject’s identity.”

To see more from African photographers, visit africanphotographynetwork.org

The beauty of Africa

DanceTraditional African dance is very photo-worthy, showing dancers giving in to the music with styles such as Ndombolo, Coupé décalé and Zulu dance.

FoodFood photography has become very every day for so many of us. Sharing the meals we cook ourselves, the food we buy while out and about and the odd fruit we find in a speciality grocer is Instagram gold! African cuisine isn’t as popular in the UK as other types of food but The Guardian talks about one rising star who is bringing Nigerian food to the masses.

PeopleThe diversity of the world is what makes it so interesting. Test out your portrait photography skills on a visit to Africa or at an Africa Day event near you…

You can celebrate Africa Day using the hashtags: #AfricaDay #AfricaDay2017

Be sure to read our post on vision boards and how these can help with your next photography project – hopefully resulting in a gorgeous canvas print! Let us know your Africa Day adventures on Facebook or Twitter.

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