"Wow, Africans on skateboards, so cool"

Yan Gross, the Swiss photographer and skateboarder–in an interview with South African journalist, Sean O’Toole, in Frieze (January/February 2011)–mocking the reaction of journalists, photographers and filmmakers, who flocked to Kampala, Uganda, after his self-published photoseries of a small group of local skateboarders, gained attention outside Uganda. “It was hard to deal with all these people. The suburb wasn’t meant to become a touristic place or a zoo.”

Source.

Further Reading

Sovereignty beyond the nation

A new history of the interwar Latin American left recovers the rich debates over race and self-determination that shaped the region’s anti-imperial politics—and still resonate today.

Fields of dependency

As the US-Israel war on Iran disrupts fertilizer supply, Africa’s reliance on imported inputs exposes the deeper political economy driving food insecurity.

Whose progress?

A new documentary reveals how Ethiopia’s manufacturing push redistributes land, labor, and opportunity—delivering gains for some while displacing others.