By Nii B. Andrews.
The 5th edition of the Addis Foto Fest, Africa’s largest photographic festival commenced on December 6 in Addis Ababa – Africa’s political capital.
The brainchild of Ethiopian photographer Aïda Muluneh, the biennial this year attracted 152 photographers from 62 countries.
Its primary objective remains to develop and promote photography in Africa.
Muluneh is a passionate promoter of photography on the continent; she believes that exposing Africa’s young photographers to critique from established players in the field is fundamental to progress.
“We as Africans must present our own images, instead of just being subjects in the work of others”, she explains.
Gulshan Khan a South African photographer adds, “More of us, in historically under-represented regions, need to be hired to not just tell our own stories but to tell the stories of the world.
Aren’t you interested to see how more Africans would photograph Europe or the U.S., for example? Or is this not as valuable as someone from the West telling the world’s stories?”
The Addis Foto Fest exhibits compelling and diverse imagery from talented African photographers as they become better recognized for their craft across the world.
The fest contains a fascinating exhibit of the photo archive of the grandfather of a contemporary photographer – Addis Aemero.
The title of Aemero’ exhibit is MY GRANDFATHER THE PHOTOGRAPHER. She mixes photos from his 40 year old archive with her contemporary work.
Her grandfather -Sefiw Tebeje, opened the first ever photo studio for their hometown, Weldiya in 1976.
The recently-published book VINTAGE ADDIS ABABA which consists of photographs from private collections has given an impetus to the preservation of old photos from Ethiopia.