Urban Africa Photos
"Urban Cadence": African photography captures the continent's transformation
By arts correspondent Mary Gow Mar 2, 2023 0 \s1 of 4
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Sabelo Mlangeni, a South African photographer, captured four black-and-white images of women cleaning the streets of Johannesburg late at night. In Uche Okpa-"44 Iroha's sitting, 99 standing," a conductor leans out the door of a crammed yellow molue bus in Lagos, alert to new arrivals. In one of Jodi Bieber's "Soweto" images, a young woman in a pink bathing suit creates a contrapposto position between two crowded swimming pools.
Among the nine award-winning African photographers featured in "Urban Cadence: Street Scenes from Lagos and Johannesburg," which debuted at the Middlebury College Museum of Art this month, are Mlangeni, Okpa-Iroha, and Bieber. The exhibition fills the upper halls of the museum and includes 60 images and two videos. It will go on till April 23.
Visitors to "Urban Cadence" are immersed in the atmosphere of these two enormous, populated, and expanding metropolises. The photographers, five from Nigeria and four from South Africa, are familiar with the energy and people of their own cities.
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Viewers are invited into the intricate storylines of these urban regions by their photos. The selections and varied photographers offer rich, multi-faceted introductions to these vibrant cities, featuring everything from kids in a makeshift neighbourhood beneath an elevated motorway to an exuberant alternative rock band to a comic novel superhero come to life.
Carol Magee, an art history professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, organised the exhibition, which was developed with the Gund Gallery at Kenyon College. Carol Magee also served as the exhibition's lead editor.
A soundtrack comprising musicians from South Africa and Nigeria was put together by Middlebury senior Hannah Laga Abram '23 to go with the show.
"The show 'Urban Cadence' is highly exciting. According to Douglas Perkins, associate director of the Middlebury College Museum of Art, "it's a region of the world and a collection of artists that people ought to see more of.
"We are really focusing on global contemporary art and telling stories and showing material that hasn't been as strongly showcased in the past as it should have been," Perkins said, noting that this priority carries through in thematic re-installations from the college's art collection to feature more diverse personal and artistic identities. This includes bringing exhibitions like "Urban Cadence" to the museum.
The coupling of Lagos and Johannesburg in "Urban Cadence" provides insights into both cities as well as the urbanisation of Africa as a whole. There are now 16 million people living in Lagos, up from 7 million in 2000. The population of Johannesburg has doubled since then to 6 million. The majority of the growth is driven by rural-urban migration.
Extraction of natural resources has influenced both. When gold was discovered in Johannesburg in the 1880s, the city was launched. Africa's top oil producer is Nigeria.
Their populations are youthful, as shown in several of the photographs in "Urban Cadence"; in Nigeria, 70% of the population is under 30.
The development of this exhibition was influenced by the evolving photography opportunities in both cities. Photography was not typically taught as an aspect of artistic practise in Nigerian schools and colleges. Black South Africans were not allowed to study the arts in universities during apartheid. Universities like the Uche Okpa-Iroha-founded Niele Institute in Lagos and the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg have been instrumental in training photographers and preserving and exhibiting their work. An annual festival of international photography with an African focus has been held in Lagos since 2010 thanks to the African Artists' Foundation.
The incorporation of several pieces from the photographers' series is one of the exhibition's numerous strengths. The context of these cities and the photographers are made clear by the labels.
"Captain Rugged" soars through the air over Lagos with overtones of Superman; bare chested, red cape fluttering, fist extended, and sunglasses on. He rides in a yellow minibus while observing the city from the top of high buildings.
The protagonist of Kelechi Amadi-"Captain Obi's Rugged" series from 2013 is a city superhero. He exudes coolness and vitality. The work Captain Rugged is a part of is much larger. The cover of that album by Keziah Jones from 2013 has one of Amadi-images Obi's of him. Before finding his heroic destiny, Jones was a rural Nigerian drawn to Lagos during the 1970s oil boom. His origin story is told in Jones' graphic novel.
For his 2006 "Invisible Women" series, Sabelo Mlangeni spent eight months with sanitation workers in Johannesburg. Mlangeni continued seeing that the city streets, which were filthy and chaotic at night, were tidy in the morning. He discovered that the majority of middle-aged women who worked through the night were responsible for the transformation.
Jodi Bieber's featured series was centred on Soweto's South West Townships. In order to separate Johannesburg's Black labour force from the White neighbourhood, Soweto was established in the 1930s. The Soweto uprising of 1976, which saw students protesting forced Afrikaans education rather than their own, is one of the region's darkest moments. Hector Pieterson, a 12-year-old who was among those killed, was captured in a picture that became a symbol of the struggle against apartheid.
In Bieber's images, history is not lost or obscured; it can be seen in the architecture, a painting beneath a stairway, and other places.
At the same time, Justin Bieber depicts contemporary Soweto life. An posh shopping centre is surrounded by a huge, lit soccer ball. While families and friends cool down in a large public pool, little kids play in a wading pool. There is a noticeable youth and energy in Soweto. Ree-alternative Burth's rock soundtrack is virtually audible to viewers.