Did you know that when you Google the images of Kenya you will get more photos of Kenya burning ivory than the beautiful Nairobi skyline, natural scenery and the incredible dawn and dusk photos that you see around on social media, magazines and calendars? Well, according to this site http://www.africanbudgetsafaris.com/blog/africas-best-national-parks-by-country/ Kenya ranks first in Top 5 travel destinations and according to CNN Travel we rank first in Africa’s 10 best safari parks. So, why are we depicted to be destroying what is our pride? What makes us rank top? And is it only wildlife that Kenya is known of? What about its people? It’s culture and its beautiful landscapes?
This is not only in Kenya but in most African cities. What is depicted from their searches are poverty, hunger, humiliating conditions of Africans, violence etc. What if this narrative changed? What if what you saw of Africa was what it really is? What if our beauty shone to the world and changed other people’s perspective of our continent. What if Africa was not just a mining ground and a wildlife continent? What if we Africans we not regarded as uncivilized, backward, bloodthirsty and power hungry? Well, some of us are willing and ready to change that and we will need you to be like-minded as well.
Mutua Matheka (IG @truthslinger), a reknowned Kenyan photographer with a great eye for showcasing African landscapes, architecture and cultures, Joe Were (IG @jaydabliu), a travel and documentary photographer, linguist, Instagram influencer and adventure-seeker, Lulu Kitololo (IG @lulukitololo), an artist, designer, creative director and storyteller whose current tools of choice are illustration and graphic design, Josh Kisamwa (IG @joshkisamwa), a travel & documentary storyteller using film as his medium. Inspired by the stories he hears from the people he meets all over the continent are all friends pioneering the Unscrambling Africa project.
The Unscrambling Africa project is a road trip project with the purpose to explore what defines urbanity across our continent, Africa. From Nairobi to Durban, the team will see and document what these cities look like, meet the people that reside in them, interact with the sub-cultures and photograph the built environment of these cities. The journey and photos will be shared with anyone interested using various social media platforms.
Why Unscrambling Africa?
Unscrambling Africa is a project that will go into urban areas all over the continent, from Alexandria to CapeTown, Yaoundé to Addis Ababa (starting with Southern Africa) to explore the different personalities African cities have. To document what urbanity means in the African context. To document how we use, define and relate with our spaces in Africa, whether explicitly or implicitly defined. To explore African architecture (does it exist?). To explore how different (or similar) the culture of urbanity is in different African cities and most importantly, to share this information so that more of us can have an idea of how it looks like in our neighboring cities. Hopefully this could be one of the many ways to unscramble our continent using photography and video as a key tool.
They believe in the importance of documenting Africa as Africans from an African perspective. They believe this is the beginning of an active documentation of African cities for future generations. Why don’t you join and support this amazing project?
PROJECT : Unscrambling Africa – A crowdfunding project to document African cities.
WHERE? : On Kickstarter & On Mookh (for Kenyans that prefer Mpesa)
TIME FRAME? : Ongoing until 24th December 2016
Contact:
Mutua Matheka
+254 719 250073
And this is why we need to unscramble Africa. Enjoy these heart-warming photos…..
