The first photographs from Africa were not taken by African photographers. They were Western travellers or European colonial masters who came to the country and documented their impressions. Images were created through the prototype of the white, male photographic gaze, sowing the supposedly peaceful coexistence during the colonial period.
The latter often existed in the form of postcards. They were souvenirs from a faraway continent sent home to show paradisiacal Africa and their own, wealthy life. They thus developed into a means of colonial propaganda.
The ‚other‘ is always easy to define when differences are obvious and clearly visible. Thus, the order of power is always shown by the positioning of the people in the pictures. Through digital collaging changes in the images hierarchies are beeing made. The resulting images are in no way a denial of history, but rather a disempowerment of one‘s own kind. By juxtaposing original postcards and collages, I want to draw attention to the injustices and our obligation towards our colonial heritage.
The postcards are from East Africa (Zanzibar, Tanzania, and Kenya) from 1900 to 1930 during the period of German and British colonial rule. They are part of the old east african postcards collection, as well as the Humphrey Winterton Collection of East African Photographs.