In Cape Town, South Africa the design firms Design Indaba Trust and Thinking have teamed up with artist Faith47 to help raise funds to bring more light to their urban city. Their goal is to raise funds to light up 700 meters of Manwabisi Park, which will ultimately reduce the crime rate in the area through more light. In order to get the community involved in the project, they have combined street art with community engagement.
On April 15 in northern Nigeria, 200 school girls aged 15-18 were kidnapped by an extremist Muslim group called Boko Haram, whose name in the Hausa language means “Western education is a sin.” In hopes of viral pressure on Nigerian authorities to try to recover the girls, campaigns have started on the White House website, on Change.org and on Facebook to demand: “Bring Back Our Girls.” The campaigns quickly gained global attention, with Michelle Obama,
Not far from the Burkina Faso capital of Ouagadougou, approximately 30 kilometers, lies Operndorf Afrika, a village that’s governed by art and a global exchange of culture.
Driving along an ordinary dirt road, it's hard to miss the Goma Cultural Centre with its bright blue gate, emblazoned with the Congolese flag. "As you can see, we are proud to be Congolese around here," said Belamy Paluku, a volunteer manager at the youth centre.
As massacres, civil wars, and violence permeated communities, people have searched for asylum in other countries. Due to its location and relative safety, Spain has become a common destination for immigrants seeking a better life. Female immigrants in particular tend to experience much more arduous journeys in that they frequently are subjugated to sexual abuse.
Africa has had a devastating history of blood diamond wars. Blood diamond refers to a diamond mined in a war zone and then sold to finance an invading army's war efforts, usually in Africa where more than two-thirds of the worlds diamonds are extracted.
This site specific social / political word play was painted on the exterior wall of Johannesburg's largest diamond trader Jewel City.
"Y’en a Marre (“We're Fed Up") first emerged in 2011 as a grassroots campaign against injustice and inequality in Senegal. Spearheaded by the hip hop group Keur Gui Crew in response to local power outages, the nascent protest movement went on to mobilize against the controversial bid by Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade to remain in office for a third term.
Mandela's notion of manhood changed over time. In the early days, he evoked the image of toughness to deal with an enemy that would not respond to reason. When it became possible to secure peace through talking, Mandela adapted. After his release his image was one of warmth and inclusiveness, embracing those who feared majority rule and even his former enemies.
A video that was first posted on X (formerly Twitter) on November 8, of a Congolese man setting himself on fire has gone viral. The gruesome clip has started a discussion on whether a genocide is occurring in the DRC and is being ignored by both Africa and the rest of the world.
Mtendo MweMa Project's mission is to provide a safe house and educational opportunities to girls, especially those in danger of female circumcision, early marriage and pregnancy, whom otherwise have no alternative but to return to their villages during the holiday seasons in Kenya, East Africa.
Drama Queens Ghana's “MoonGirls” is an Afrofuturistic graphic novel series. Through an Afrofuturistic lens, “MoonGirls follows the adventures of 4 African "supersheroes" with varying superpowers to save the world from a diverse range of forces; from patriarchy, rape culture to pollution and global warming.
The city of Douala in Cameroon had a huge problem associated with malfunctioning water drainage systems. This is due the fact that in many illegally constructed areas of the town, the sewers are without cover, and after heavy rainfall, this would generally lead to floods and related threats to public health.
The Rwanda Film Institute dedicates a lot of its energy to the education of individuals in the field of filmmaking. Through our Kwetu Film School, we look to consistently breed the next generation of Rwandese filmmakers. This is an essential part of our overarching goal of the development of Rwanda culturally, economically, and communicatively through the growth of filmmaking as an industry.
On 7th December 2009, “Picha Mtaani” was launched at a colorful ceremony in Nairobi. “Picha Mtaani” in partnership with UNDP Kenya, was an initiative that seeks to create a platform for peace building, national healing and cohesion through street picture galleries, hosted dialogues and repertoire of the reflections and discussions.
Kokumo, pronounced "koh-koo-mah", is a trans gender activist whose very name embodies her bold path of resistance. Taken from the West African dialect Yoruba, Kokumo means "this woman will not die." Kokumo chose her name in response to constantly being told that she would die of AIDS while growing up.
SUNO is one of the few luxury fashion brands that has been born out of a social cause. Max Osterweis and designer Erin Beatty launched their first collection in the spring of 2009, " after post-election violence threatened to damage the economy and industry in Kenya."
While the clothes is mostly produced by local artisans in Kenya, Suno has since expanded its business to include production in Peru, India, and NY.
Dressed head to toe in plastic, Modou Fall is a familiar sight in Dakar. But however playful his costume, his goal couldn’t be more serious: ridding the capital of the scourge of plastic bags.
DOHA — In an interview with the Paris Review in 1993, the late Toni Morrison once said,
I think of beauty as an absolute necessity. I don’t think it’s a privilege or an indulgence. It’s not even a quest. I think it’s almost like knowledge, which is to say it’s what we were born for.
Djerbahood Project, which took place during the months of July and August on a small island called Djerba and is located in the Gulf of Gabes. Better known as the island of dreams, the tiny village of Djerba boasts a traditional and authentic Tunisian setting which acted as a blank canvas for hundred and fifty street artists from thirty different countries.
By 2010, the Nigerian film industry, also referred to as “Nollywood,” had become the second-largest film industry in the world. Today, the accessibility of digital video technology continues to enable prolific amateur filmmakers to produce wildly popular low-budget and direct-to-DVD films, which deal with timely issues of religion, poverty, and corruption.
“I want to show the people how bad the troubles were," says artist Muhiyidin Sharif Ibrahim of Mogadishu, Somalia. "That’s the message we’re going to send to people.”
(Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times)
At the age of just 30, Palesa Ngwenya is helping transform these areas through her position as development coordinator of Maboneng Township Arts Experience. “We turn homes in the townships into art galleries,” says the young South African woman, who grew up during apartheid. “It’s about showing people that you can use what you have to do things that can change your life."
The “Perceiving Freedom” glasses sculpture on Cape Town’s Sea Point promenade looking towards Robben Island, commemorates late President Nelson Mandela and the values of freedom and equality.