AFRICAN BIENNALE OF PHOTOGRAPHY: 25TH YEAR.

By Nii B. Andrews.

Bamako, Mali will host the 12th edition of the African Biennale of Photography from November 30 2019 to January 31 2020; it will mark the 25th anniversary of the event.

The Ministry of Culture of Mali has organized the event since 1994 with the support of the Institut Français.

It remains the first and main international event dedicated to photography and video on the continent.

But of course, the event necessarily encompasses work beyond the geographical space of Africa; it is a pivotal event for contemporary African art.

Under the title, “Streams of Consciousness”, the exhibition will apply the notion of the stream of consciousness as a metaphor for the flux of ideas, peoples, cultures that flow across and along with rivers like the Niger, Congo, Nile or Mississippi.

A rich public program has been scheduled; it includes thematic exhibitions and film screenings.

Eighty five artists will take part in the event.

It is expected that their work will explore the theme of the event by “examining remoteness, invisible matters, hitherto erased voices and images, as well as celebrating politics and poetics of (in)animate ecosystems”.

The curatorial team include Aziza Harmel, Astrid Sokona Lepoultier and Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh, joined by artistic advisors Akinbode Akinbiyi, Seydou Camara and scenographer Cheick Diablo. 

Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung is the Artistic Director. 

*****Photographs are courtesy of Tanya Jardii-Kordylas; they were taken in August 2019 at Jamestown, Accra.

They are of an old trading house right next to the famous Brazilian House.