Projects tagged "Africa"

Mandela Danced
Practitioner:
Nelson Mandela
Date:
Jan 1 1980
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.
Sudanese Activist Artist Breaks Down Borders
Practitioner:
Elshafei Dafalla Mohamed
Date:
Mar 29 2012
VOA NEWS  March 29, 2012  By Nico Colombant   WASHINGTON--A Sudanese artist from the restive Blue Nile region is using art and activism to promote the plight of people caught between borders and conflict. In an audio montage of memories from refugees, the sounds of gunfire and explosions mix with crying babies. Narrator Michelle Orecchio describes how to reverse war's grip on so much of humanity.
#BringBackOurGirls
Practitioner:
Social Media Users Worldwide
Date:
May 2 2014
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,
In Brazzaville, Fashionistas Lift Spirits With Apparel And Activism
Practitioner:
La Sape
Date:
Apr 24 2014
When can fashion be considered an act of social activism — even subversion? The streets of Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo’s capital (Congo-Brazzaville), have seen plenty of violence and suffering over the years. But a group of local fashionistas known has “sapeurs” are lifting spirits and celebrating life by following a simple commandment: Dress to impress.
Miss Landmine
Practitioner:
Morten Traavik
Date:
Apr 2 2008
A beauty contest for landmine victims challenges normal concepts of beauty. The search for beauty takes many forms. The traditional beauty pageant might be thought to be one of the less acceptable, concentrating as it does on conventional ideas of female perfection. Miss Landmine is a challenge to normal concepts of beauty. It is a beauty pageant held in Angola, a country ravaged by war and its aftermath, for women who have lost limbs from landmines.
Fresh Direct
Practitioner:
Angel Adelaj
Date:
Mar 1 2014
Our solution: Fresh Direct Nigeria (Fresh Direct Produce and Agro-Allied Services) is “City Farming” using stackable container farms! Fresh DirectNigeria brings fresh premium organic produce closer to market with our Container Farm Technology.
“up yours” share trading
Practitioner:
James Gubb
Date:
Nov 9 2017
JAMES GUBB was finishing off the knuckles when the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) shut him down. Trading single shares between two accounts, Mr Gubb had managed to “draw” the image of a fist with an upright middle finger onto the share-price chart for Oakbay Resources and Energy Limited, a company controlled by the Gupta brothers, cronies of President Jacob Zuma, that is at the centre of allegations of “state capture” in South Africa.
Nats Never Die/The Zombies are Coming!
Practitioner:
The Yes Men and Reclaim the City
Date:
Sep 30 2019
The Yes Men join Reclaim the City in their fight against unjust housing policy. On September 30, 2019, a horde of zombies attended a "#natsneverdie rally" at the Cape Town Civic Centre in order to celebrate Mayor Dan Plato and the Mayoral Committee and to support their policies, which are increasingly similar to those of the National Party under Apartheid.
Commemorating the Marikana Massacre
Practitioner:
Anonymous Artists/Activists
Date:
Aug 14 2014
On August 14th 2014 several prominent statues within the city centre and the southern suburbs of Cape Town got redressed in green blankets, equipped with miner gear or carrying grocery bags. The statues – mainly of which represent colonial figures – were redressed in light of what has come to be known as the Marikana Massacre: the shooting of 34 miners by the local police force of Marikana, South Africa on August 16th, 2012.
World Art Day 2022: Ghanaian graffiti artists launch environmental protection campaign in Ada
Practitioner:
Tapioca Foundation, Imposters Art Collective
Date:
Apr 15 2022
As part of the commemoration of this year’s World Art Day (April 15), Ghanaian-based Tapioca Foundation and Imposters Art Collective have embarked on a campaign to educate the public about environmental sustainability. The project, which was launched in Ada in the Greater Accra Region, is intended to use art pieces to highlight issues relating to environmental protection and climate action to boost awareness in local communities.
Djerbahood
Practitioner:
Curated by Mr. Mehdi Ben Cheikh
Date:
Jul 13 2014
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.
New Walk Ways in New Bell
Practitioner:
Kamiel Verschuren
Date:
Dec 1 2010
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 MoonGirls
Practitioner:
Drama Queens Ghana
Date:
Dec 27 2020
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.
Bringing Awareness to the TGI Experience
Practitioner:
Kokumo, KOKUMOMEDIA
Date:
Jul 29 2012
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.
KAGOGOS (child soldier in Central Africa)
Practitioner:
Uganda National Contemporary Ballet
Date:
Oct 9 2013
The Uganda National Contemporary Ballet (UNCB) presented a new powerful and moving production advocating for the child soldiers all over the world at the National Theatre in Kampala.
Photographer Stéphan Gladieu Documents the Congolese Street Children Turning Waste into Wonder
Practitioner:
Stéphan Gladieu and the artists in Kinshasa
Date:
Jun 15 2020
“So dramatic, so strong, so visual,” artist Stéphan Gladieu said of his first encounter with the revival of an ancestral folk art movement in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Kinshasa is the capital of Congo but also one of the many places American and European countries send their waste.
Dramatic Recovery
Practitioner:
Topsy Foundation
Date:
Mar 1 2010
What is it like living with AIDS? This heart-wrenching video for South Africa’s Topsy Foundation brings us through 90 hard days in the life of someone living with it. Be sure to watch it all the way to the end. It’s worth it: Did you catch that? If you didn’t, watch it again. Spoiler after the jump.
Conserving the Gola Rainforests: Sierra Leone and Liberia unite for a peaceful future
Practitioner:
United Nations Sustainable Development Group
Date:
Apr 23 2025
The Gola Rainforest, straddling Sierra Leone and Liberia is a lush, green haven. Spanning about 700 square kilometers and stretches across both countries, the rainforest is home to diverse and globally threatened wildlife, including over 300 bird species and endangered species such as pygmy hippos, chimpanzees, and forest elephants.
Kony 2012
Practitioner:
Invisible Children
Date:
Mar 5 2012
In 2004, the United Nations called the LRA crisis in northern Uganda the “most forgotten, neglected humanitarian emergency in the world.” Invisible Children was founded to change that and to fight against the false notion that our responsibility to each other stops at our own nations’ borders.
ECO Fashionable Collectibles- Made From Recycled Plastic
Practitioner:
Adeyemi Emmanuel
Date:
Nov 11 2019
In 2019, Adeyemi Emmanuel began collecting bits of discarded plastic and used them to make a backpack. Seeing a way to raise environmental awareness in fashion-conscious Nigeria, Emmanuel in November launched a line of bags, wallets and gift boxes made of 20% leather and around 80% plastic waste, called ECO. He collects chips of used plastic by hand, such as leftovers from picture frames, primarily from craft workshops.
Puppetry is the sum of the collective human imaginary
Practitioner:
Yaya Coulibali
Date:
Jan 1 2024
The veteran Malian master puppeteer Yaya Coulibali, born in 1959 in the village of Koula, around 100 kilometres north-east of Bamako, has more than half a century of experience in puppetry and has toured the world to perform his art.
Performance Obscura
Practitioner:
Ruth Simbao
Date:
Sep 1 2014
In her curatorial project Making Way, Ruth Simbao brought together works that complicated the idea of globalization’s effect on African nations, especially the idea that the new phase would usher in an almost frictionless movement of labor and capital across borders. Works by artists like Athi-Patra Ruga reflected on questions of how bodies moved through settler colonialist spaces.
The Archive Means We Are Counted in History.’ Zanele Muholi on Documenting Black, Queer Life in South Africa
Practitioner:
Zanele Muholi
Date:
Dec 3 2020
In the portrait Bester I, Mayotte, the sitter’s eyes stare directly at the camera, practically boring a hole in the lens. Their lips are painted white, their hair and ears adorned with clothespins. The self-portrait of Zanele Muholi is striking on its own, but it does not stand alone.
As the statue falls, she rises in protest
Practitioner:
Sethembile Msezane
Date:
Apr 9 2015
I was born in the 90s, but I’m not a Born Free; it was before South Africa became a democracy. Many believe that my generation doesn’t have anything to protest against. Given that police threw stun grenades at a student protest outside parliament last month, that is far from the truth.
WOMEN ARE HEROES /
Practitioner:
JR
Date:
Jan 1 2009
The Women Are Heroes project has various steps in Africa, in Kenya, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Sudan. In January 2009, 2000 square meters of rooftops are covered with photos of the eyes and faces of the women of Kibera, in Kenya. Most of the women have their own photos on their own rooftop and for the first time the material used is water resistant so that the photo itself will protect the fragile houses in the heavy rain season.

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