Interview with Antony Kaminju

Posted under Interviews on 4th January, 2011

Mojo: As an artist, how do you see Africa, and how it is perceived by others?
Antony: Africa is just like any other place in the world, with it's up and downs. But Africa is projected in a negative way, always. Think about this, we have lots of NGOs working in Africa to 'Save Africa'. Who is employed in those NGOs? Why can’t they employ local people and pay them as professionals? We have a big foreign media presence in Africa; can’t they employ more of the local people who can tell the African story? Why is that that every story coming from Africa is rich with war and malnourished language? If the story does not mention an AK47, HIV aids, militia, dictators, child soldiers or Mandela then that is not a story worth going on TV or to print. The western world has systematically and deliberately created their one picture about Africa that they sustain through NGO machinery and their
uninformed media!

Mojo: What do you feel about the ‘As It Is!’ exhibition?
Antony: I'm passionate about the African story as told by 'us'. Africa has been projected as a continent of tears of agony, war and famine. We also have tears of joy, which mainstream media seems to think that that is not important. I want to tell that story through my camera: show what makes Africa unique; it's diversity of people and beauty. This exhibition has a great theme and great artists who participated; it gives a fresh view of Africa.

Mojo: You exhibiting a selection of works featuring a fanatical soccer crowd. What message are you attempting to send out through these photos?
Antony: Africa has great stories that need to be told. I'm also not sure if I'm sending any message, I find that the more I shoot photographs, the more I seem to question than to send a message.

Mojo: Who and what inspires you?
Antony: Different photographers and different genres inspire me. I'm always keen to see what others are doing and how they interpret situations. I am a people person; people inspire me.

Mojo: What are your plans for this year?
I wait to see or to feel that elusive moment. At the moment I'm in Mombasa, a Kenya coastal town dating from 1600 A.D. I want to work with local youths to tell some stories from this end. It's agonizing that there is so little information about the city. Only a handful of catalogues and tour guide brochures all designed to please the tourists. There is nothing that visually speaks to the local person. That is my battle; how do we tell our own stories without the commercial aspect of the 'tourist' and explorers who have come to 'save Africa'.

I cant do it alone so I need a battalion of like minded artists who will sacrifice the immediate comfort and put effort in researching, understanding and documenting those elusive bright moments that the western media seems to ignore. We got to tell it from our point of view, it's our story and no one can tell it better than ourselves.
About Antony Kaminju

Antony Kaminju is a photographer from Nairobi Kenya. He splits his time between Nairobi and Johannesburg where he mentors in photography at the Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg.
Read full biography