This photograph of Soccer City, the venue for the opening and closing games of the 2010 World Cup in Johannesburg by the young Johannesburg photographer Sabelo Mlangeni, is included in the ambitious exhibit: “Afropolis. City, Media, Art: Urbanization Africa, now showing through March 11 at the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum in Cologne, Germany. The exhibit focuses on Cairo, Lagos, Nairobi, Kinshasa, and of course Johannesburg. Mlangeni’s contribution is entitled “Untitled – The Year 2010,” and consists of a series of photographs  created in June/July 2010 for Afropolis. According to the museum PR it “… captures moments beyond and after the turmoil and excitement of the World Cup.” More information here.

Further Reading

Writing while black

The film adaptation of Percival Everett’s novel ‘Erasure’ leaves little room to explore Black middle-class complicity in commodifying the traumas of Black working-class lives.

The Mogadishu analogy

In Gaza and Haiti, the specter of another Mogadishu is being raised to alert on-lookers and policymakers of unfolding tragedies. But we have to be careful when making comparisons.

Kwame Nkrumah today

New documents looking at British and American involvement in overthrowing Kwame Nkrumah give us pause to reflect on his legacy, and its resonances today.