Everyday Africa, an online media initiative which portrays the real stories of daily African life through images, was founded in 2012 by American photojournalist Peter DiCampo and writer Austin Merrill.
The two media professionals came up with the concept while working in Africa where they discovered that the casual photos they had taken with their phones, which were a far cry from the glossy professional photographs they were used to selecting for publications, portrayed a more real and engaging take on day-to-day Africa, which they believed would interest the public.
On their next visit to Africa, DiCampo and Merrill decided to create a blog where photos could be uploaded in real time for people to view.
“In the months that followed, we found that a lot of our colleagues shared our frustrations with coverage of the continent and were excited to have an outlet for the day-to-day images. We migrated to Instagram (but kept the Tumblr too) to extend our reach, and things grew rather quickly,’ said DiCampo.
One of the goals of the project is to critique the purpose and practice of Western photojournalism, which DiCampo believes may be creating stereotypes.
He explains: “Without daily life imagery of normal and even mundane situations, the west will still think of Africa as poor and starving with no exceptions, the Middle East as explosively violent at all times and in all places, and so forth. So, while of course it’s important – vitally, crucially important – to see what “everyday Africa’ means from the perspective of Africans, it’s also vitally important to point fingers at the notion of photojournalism and poke holes in it, not only the way it is carried out but also the way it is read by an audience.’
Initially the website featured photographs from mostly American foreign contributors, but now showcases work from a number of African photographers, including Nana Kofi Acquah, Emeka Okereke and Andrew Esiebo. A long-term goal for the project is for it to be a platform for multiple user generated content.
“… for my own photography in this project, I want to cut through the photos that create that very imaginary Africa – or, in the nature of the stream, to show them alongside of images that are more familiar. Basically, if I could turn back time and show this project to my 21-year-old self, I’d want him to understand that when his plane landed in Ghana, he would also see things that were familiar,’ concluded DiCampo.
Visit the Everyday Africa Instagram page and the Everyday Africa blog to view more images.
