For eight days starting from July 20 up till July 28, 2021, 60 photographers from across Africa will at the second edition of the Aspire Art Auctions, an online art exhibition, showcase the best of African photography.
The Aspire Art Auctions was established in collaboration with the Photography Legacy Project (PLP), an organisation established to support the digitisation of photographic legacies in Africa through an online portal.
The Aspire X PLP auction brings together a diversity of styles and content from across the continent. Over 60 photographers are participating under the broad theme “Africa by Africans”, showcasing the diversity of subject matter that ranges from landscape to the interior, gender-based issues to surfing culture, reflecting the ingenuity and commitment of photographers who continue to practice their craft in the face of extreme challenges.
Two young award-winning women photographers are being featured this year. Lee-Ann Olwage’s essay on cross-dressers celebrates the transgender and gay communities while highlighting the difficulties they face. Collaborating with Belinda Qaqamba Kafassie and others, their fashion shoot in the surrounding townships of Cape Town won a World Press award. As Olwage explained, “The project was created to serve as a platform of expression for black queer individuals who were invited to co-create images which they felt told their stories in a way that is affirming and celebratory”.
Zimbabwean, Tamary Kudita’s essay, African Victorian, won the Open Photographer of the Year at the 2021 Sony World Photography Awards. Her work explores and disrupts stereotypical representations of African identity. “Subversion is implicit in my elected mode of practice and my choice of representation demonstrates a subject position congruent with that of Santu Mofokeng, who seeks to tell a transparent narrative about black lives by constantly unsettling the comfort zones of racial and cultural memory”, she told Contemporary art magazine.
A highlight for collectors is the creative response of photographers to the Covid 19 pandemic. This includes dramatic portraits by Lamyne M from the Ivory Coast, theatrical imagery by Jabulani Dlamini, Lindokuhle Sobekwa and Marc Shoul’s social documentary interventions.
Emerging photographers share their photographic endeavours. Self-reflexive imagery on Youth culture ranges from the performative imagery of the Kongo Astronauts collective (DRC) to the documentary imagery of Etinosa Yvonne (Nigeria) and Abno Shanan (Algeria).
An older generation of established names like David Goldblatt, Alf Kumalo, legendary Drum photographers, Bob Gosani and Ernest Cole features alongside contemporary photographers such as Michael Meyersfeld and David Lurie. Kenyan Mohamed Amin, a veteran documentarian, was instrumental in covering major events in East Africa from the 1960s. The PLP along with his son, Salim, has established the Mohamed Amin Foundation to safeguard his legacy and make it accessible for future generations. Award-winning photographers Graeme Williams, Ilan Godfrey, Daylin Paul and Brent Stirton share their insights and creative collaborations.
A rare collection of endangered and disappearing South African vernacular photography is also represented by Bobson Sukhdeo Mohanlall (Bobby Bobson), William Matlala and Ronald Ngilima. While this genre from West Africa has been widely seen in recent times, less exposure has been given to the South African version and its contribution to world visual culture.
Selected photographers who have been published in Oath magazine, an exciting initiative established by Stephanie Blomkamp, are included. Oath’s mission is “to celebrate the art of photography, champion new talent from Africa and shine a light on overlooked archives”. Goodman Gallery, Axis and Akka Galleries have also contributed work from their stables, augmenting the pool of talent and diversity from the African continent.
The first edition in 2020 achieved impressive results across the board, including a set of Ernest Cole works from The House of Bondage which sold for over half a million rands.
With the proceeds of last year’s auction, the PLP was able to digitise a new group of photographers from South Africa, Sudan and Kenya, some of whom are represented in the current auction. The archive of Ralph Ndawo, a peer of Peter Magubane and Alf Kumalo, who worked for Drum and the Rand Daily Mail has been kept by his daughter, Rachel, for decades since his untimely death in 1980. Now it is digitised and available for the world to see. Also included in the auction are photographs by Henion Han, a Chinese-born South African who documented the Chinese community, as well as works from the archive of Lindeka Qampi.
The photographers and archives represented in this exciting collection underscore the vision and spirit of the PLP to continue the digital preservation of our photographic heritage — much of which is perilously endangered — so that African photographic collections and archives may remain on the continent, be accessible and researchable for future generations.
