GENERAL PRESENTATION
Drawing on the expertise of independent French and African photographers with rich teaching experience, the Alliance Française de Mombasa has imagined an ambitious program to support documentary photography in Mombasa. A cosmopolitan and multicultural city, Mombasa is the largest city on the Kenyan coast and the most important port in East Africa.
‘Foto Mtaani’ is a project whose main aim is to offer young Kenyan photographers, women in particular, an opportunity for training and networking with seasoned professionals. It is also meant to create pathways of exchange between French (mainland France and La Réunion) and Kenyan professionals.
Foto Mtaani was conceived in close collaboration with local stakeholders, starting with the Mombasa Photographers Hub association, on the basis of a survey of photography in Mombasa. The scarcity of exhibition spaces, the prohibitive cost of photographic equipment and the remoteness of the capital, where artistic and cultural life is concentrated, are considerable obstacles to the emergence of talent in the field of photography in Mombasa. Yet, there is a real interest in photography in Mombasa, particularly with the widespread use of smartphones and apps such as Instagram. As in many African metropolises, this trend is leading to a significant transformation in artistic practices in the field of photography.
Foto Mtaani will be held from September 2024 to March 2025, mainly in Mombasa, but also in its second phase in Nairobi and Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Round table discussion : “How artists can contribute to environmental action ? ”
Three photography residencies will be organised in Mombasa, complemented by workshops run by Cameras Africa:
1)Residency: ‘Mixed-media photography’ by M.Burnel from 16 September to 29 September 2024
Marina Burnel is a French freelance photographer specialising in mixed-media photography, particularly on zinc plates. She will be coordinating the ‘mixed media’ workshop at Studio Bela Bela and will be working with visual artists who specialise or wish to become more professional in the use of recycled materials.
2)Residency: ‘Street Photography by Street & Stories’ from 9 to 28 November 2024
Photographer Eugénie Baccot will lead a training session forten young photographers from Mombasa, helping them in the development of their photography projects: from the birth of the idea, to the production of the images, all the way up to the exhibition.
3) Residency: ‘Fragments’ – production of an editorial object on the city of Mombasa
The Fragments association, led by Romain Philippon, will be running a documentary photography workshop on the city of Mombasa. Four photographers, including the Congolese artist Raïssa Rwizibuka (winner of the Jeune Photographie Africaine 2021 award), and a writer will be invited to take part in an editorial adventure that will culminate in the local publication of an editorial object (magazine, newspaper), the contours of which will be defined during the residency and which will complement the collection of photographic works on the Indian Ocean area begun in 2015
CONTEXT AND INTEGRATION INTO THE ICC STRATEGY.
Cultural and creative industries are one of the priority areas of France’s transformational agenda for renewing its relations with the African continent.
The creative sector is essential to youth development in Mombasa County and can become a major catalyst for job creation. Drafted in October 2020 by GOYN (Global Opportunity Youth Network), the report ‘Shifting the job narrative: unlocking the Creative Economy for Youth Employment’ lists recommendations for boosting the creative industries sector on the coast. In addition to the lack of training facilities in the image sector and the lack of funding opportunities, the absence of creative spaces is identified as the main obstacle to the emergence of new talent in the film and digital arts.
Foto Mtaani will attempt to make up for these shortcomings and will be a continuation of the initiatives undertaken by the Alliance française de Mombasa as part of the FAEC- Création Africa Kenya project.
The aim of Creation Africa Kenya is to consolidate audiovisual production in Kenya through initiatives focusing on the professionalisation of training and the support of individual projects by young talent to improve access to the job market. Against this backdrop, the Sinema Mtaani project was launched in September 2023 and has three components: broadcasting (open-air screenings and discussions about the works produced in Mombasa and Nairobi), training (workshop cycles and meetings with professionals in the sector, at local, national and international level), Kino-Labo creation (application in the context of kino-kabarets and production of short documentaries and dramas). This project has been very well received by the recipients (general public and young professionals), public authorities and partners and is part of a promising dynamic in the audiovisual and digital arts sector
Outdoor « Sinema Mtaani » community screening in Mombasa
The ongoing construction of an audiovisual creation centre in the AF Mombasa garden (studio and training/screening room) will make it possible to host the Foto Mtaani residencies in optimal conditions.
The photography scene in Mombasa is very male-dominated. Only 20% of the members of the Mombasa Photographers Hub are women. We will identify young female photographers in the coast region, understand the obstacles preventing them from pursuing their passion and give them priority access to the training courses and meetings organised as part of the Foto Mtaani photography residencies. The three African photographers selected to take part in the Fragments residency and work alongside Réunionese experts from the Fragments association will be women.
The residencies also aim to show a different image of Mombasa, Kenya and Africa. As the Ethiopian photographer Aïda Muluneh rightly points out, ‘poverty is one of the easiestsubjects to document and it’s what immediately attracts many foreign photographers’. These residencies will be an opportunity to collectively develop a new narrative and look at this inspiring and cosmopolitan city in a new way. Mombasa is little photographed today, beyond the clichés of white sandy beaches. Unfortunately, local regulation discourages young photographers from exploring street photography.
Collective photographers workshop during the Fragments residency in Antsirabe
OBJECTIVES
Foto Mtaani has a number of objectives:
DETAILED PROGRAMME
In order to support young documentary photographers in Mombasa and on the Kenyan coast, three residencies will be organised between September 2024 and March 2025. 5
1) Residency: Mixed-media photography by M.Burnel
Provisional dates: 16/09 to 29/09/2024
Marina Burnel is a French street photographer who specialises in mixed media photography, particularly on recycled zinc.
A Frenchwoman who has lived in Jamaica for several years, Marina Burnel has made the Caribbean island her new adopted country, the one that inspires and inhabits her deepest self. Marina Burnel is a singular photographer, totally free to let herself be guided by the causes she considers to be priorities, such as the transgender community in Kingston, to whom she has dedicated an exhibition in a country where homophobia and transphobia are commonplace.
Her first solo show in France will be presented in April at the Art-Z gallery in Paris.
Crédit photo : Marina Burnel
As part of Foto Mtaani, she will be running a multidisciplinary workshop at Alliance française and Studio Bela Bela, a community art centre in the heart of the Bamburi district. Open to visual artists 6 from the city of Mombasa, the workshop will provide an opportunity to experiment with mixed media techniques while learning about street photography.
2) Residency « Street photography” by Street & Stories
Provisional dates: 9 to 28 th Nov 2024
This second creative and transmission residency will consist of two parts. The first part will focus on transmission to young photographers in Mombasa and will consist of the organisation of a photographic workshop led by the French artist photographer Eugénie Baccot.
Crédit: Eugénie Baccot
A mixed group of around ten photographers living in Mombasa will be created following a call for projects to take part in a week-long workshop on documentary photography. Participants will be identified in close collaboration with the Mombasa Photographers Hub. Supervised by the Eugénie Baccot, the mixed group will be invited to work on their photography and create a documentary series.
At the end of the various workshops, the group will present a collective exhibition in the covered gallery of the Alliance française de Mombasa and in a gallery in the town of Ukunda, south of Mombasa.
The second part will consist of the co-creation by Eugénie Baccot and a local photographer (yet to be identified) of a photography series based on the original work of Mombasa-born author Khadija Abdalla Bajaber. A rising star on the Kenyan literary scene, the author of The House of Rust won the Graywolf Press Africa Prize. The ambition is to create a dreamlike photography series based on the work of this 27-year-old author, whose work focuses on hadhramic culture.
Crédit: Eugénie Baccot
This second residency will also provide an opportunity to combine literature and photography. Writing workshops open to all will be run by the Sip and Read Book Club, with the participation of Khadija Abdalla Bajaber.
At the end of the residency, we plan to :
Why should we be interested in Khadija Abdallah Bajaber?
A rising star on the Kenyan literary scene, Khadija Bajaber has won the Graywolf Press Africa Prize. Beyond her literary qualities, her writing is interesting in many ways. Khadija is a 27-year-old Muslim woman from the Hadrami community who has alwayslived in Mombasa. Originally from Hadramaout, the eastern region of Yemen, the Hadhramis settled in Mombasa in East Africa. They have retained a strong cultural identity, with wedding ceremonies, music, dance and dress.
Crédit photo : Eugénie Baccot
3) Residency: ‘Fragments’ – production of an editorial object on the city of Mombasa
Provisional dates: 3 to 14/02/2025
To conclude the Foto Mtaani project and give it a regional and international dimension, we are planning to invite the Reunion-based association Fragments to Mombasa for a 10-day workshop.
Crédit photo : Association Fragments
Modelled on the residency experiences that Fragments has been organising since 2015, the association will be running a documentary photography workshop on the city of Mombasa.
Four photographers, including the young Congolese artist Raïssa Rwizibuka (winner of Jeune Photographie Africaine 2021) and a writer, will be invited to take part in an editorial adventure, under the direction of Romain Philippon and Thierry Hoarau. Two photographers from Mombasa, selected during the first two residencies, will join this team of experienced professionals.
For ten days, they will be writing, photographing and questioning their relationship with the territory. They will have to compare their vision and style, and question their own photography. Each evening, there will be time for discussion, with screenings of the images produced on site. The public, in particular members of the Mombasa Photographers Hub association, will also be invited to take part in these work sessions.
Crédit photo : Association Fragments
Over the following few days, Jérôme Dupire, artistic director of the Fragments magazine, will begin to assemble the pages of an editorial object, the precise contours of which will be defined on site with the artists in residence. In this way, all the facets of a publishing project will be tackled, and the artists will be encouraged to acquire autonomy in managing a project of this kind.
At the end of the residency, we will work with a local print shop to produce a newspaper, a booklet, or and any other printed form made possible by the resident artists. This publication will be distributed free of charge, particularly in the neighbourhoods where the photographs were taken.
11 The work will also be presented in the neighbourhoods, using a giant screen. Throughout the residency, Thierry Hoarau and Romain Philippon will be working with the artists on all the photographic aspects, and Jérôme Dupire on the editorial side.
Crédit photo : Association Fragments
The exhibitions and publications produced will be presented in Nairobi, Bukavu and, we hope, also in La Réunion.
IDENTIFIED AND POTENTIAL PARTNERS
| Ambassade de France au Kenya
|
Participation in the steering committee Création Africa Kenya |
| Association Street & Stories / E.Baccot (France)
|
Coordination and facilitation of residency 2 |
| Marina Burnel (France et Jamaïque)
|
Coordination and facilitation of residency 1 |
| Association Fragments (France / La Réunion)
|
Coordination and facilitation of residency 3 |
| Radio France Internationale (RFI Kiswahili)
|
Media coverage |
| Cameras Africa
|
Facilitation of workshops |
| Raïssa Rwizibuka (RDC)
|
Participation in the residency 3 |
| Comté de Mombasa
|
Authorization and securisation of outdoor venues |
| Greywolf Press
|
Participation of the writer Khadija Bajaber |
| Studio Bela Bela
|
Mobilisation and participation in the residency 1 |
| EUNIC Cluster Kenya
|
Cofunder |
|
Institut Français de Bukavu (RDC)
|
Venue for exhibition |
| Goethe Institut et Alliance française de Nairobi
|
Venue for exhibition |
| Mombasa Photographers Hub
|
Mobilisation and participation in the various residencies |
| Technical University of Mombasa (TUM) – Départements Architecture/Design et Communications
|
Venue for round table discussion « Street photography in Mombasa » |
BUDGET
The Foto Mtaani project will last 9 months (September 2024 to April 2025).
The estimated budget (see attached document) is 59600 euros.
CONTACTS
Lucas Malcor- Director of Alliance française de Mombasa Moyne Drive (Nyali) – 80118 Mombasa – Kenya
Email: director@afmombasa.org
Telephone : +254 114 844 368
Mwakiwiwi Mwachia – Cultural coordinator of Alliance française de Mombasa Moyne Drive (Nyali) – 80118 Mombasa – Kenya
Email: cultural@afmombasa.org
Telephone : +254 747 439 339