Nii Obodai and Nyani Quarmyne’s Mission to Document Africa

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by

Trent
in

Africans Documenting Africa

Nyani Quarmyne and Nii Obodai, Ghanaian photographers, have set out to document climate change, photograph West Africa and beyond, undo stereotypes and upend expectations, with a subtle eye and nuanced view.

via Lens Blog: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/12/africans-documenting-africa/

The two men are well suited to presenting a view of Africa to Africans and others beyond the continent. Their work — now at “We Face Forward,” a series of art exhibitions on display through Sept. 16 in Manchester, England — is part of a burgeoning effort to challenge the conventional, Western understanding of Africa as helpless, diseased and war-addled: a continent of victims.

“We’re documenting for ourselves what life is and where it’s going,” Mr. Obodai said. “It’s documentation of Africa by Africans. “