Our fellow Bernard Akoi-Jackson is participating in the 14th African Biennal of Photography Rencontres de Bamako, which is taking place from November 16, 2024 to January 15, 2025 in Bamako, Mali. During the opening weekend, Bernard also performed and participated in the discussion.
Choosing Kuma, the Word, as the theme of the 14th edition of the Bamako Meetings / African Photography Biennial may seem strange, but it is precisely in this paradox that the interest lies. For the artists, it is about exploring new forms, experimenting with dialogues between the word and the image, making plastically exist the moments of speaking, eloquence, anger, but also hope, meditation, silence, cacophony and noise.
The word in all its forms, the given word, the whispered word, the big word, the little word, the new word, the old word. The spoken word, the written word, the declaimed word, the narrated word, the sung word, the rapped word, the slammed word.
A photo can tell a thousand stories. It can convey emotions, ideas and messages through the power of the captured moment, the framing, the lighting or the staging. Photographers have the power to “make an image speak” thanks to this genius.
Furthermore, let's not try to oppose words and images. It is in reality a constant dialogue between the two forms of expression. Words can be used to describe a photograph, to give it a context. Similarly, a photograph can illustrate or reinforce words, by capturing a precise moment that supports the verbal message.
Photography speaks by bringing the past back to life.
For eternity, it remains the memory of a moment, of an era, of a gesture and the witness of a present which is conjugated with the future.
Victor Adewale (Nigeria), Bernard Akoi-Jackson (Ghana), Héla Ammar (Tunisia), Nabil Boutros (Egypt), Cédrick-Isham Calvados (Guadeloupe), Caroline Déodat (France/Mauritius), Jeannette Ehlers (Denmark/Trinidad and Tobago), Willow Evann (France/Ivory Coast), Mounir Fatmi (Morocco), Ismaël Mahamoudou Laouli Illa (Niger), Arnold Tagne Fokam (Cameroon), Zara Julius (South Africa), Massow Ka (Senegal), Kevin Kabambi (R. D. Congo), Seyba Keita (Mali), John Kalapo (Mali), M’hammed Kilito (Morocco), Cynthia R. Matonhodze (Zimbabwe), Primo Mauridi (R.D. Congo), Mariam Niaré (Mali), Osakpolor Omoregie (Nigeria), Amine Oulmakki (Morocco), Marc Posso (Gabon), Arilala Ophélia Ralamboson (Madagascar), Nuno Silas (Mozambique), Kanni Sissoko (Mali) and Yvon Ngassam (Cameroon), Maheder Haileselassie Tadese (Ethiopia), Dior Thiam (Germany/Senegal), Sethembiso Zulu (South Africa).
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