Tate Modern: A World in Common
An ‘abbreviated’ but ‘compelling’ show of works from 36 African photographers

During the colonial period, when Africa was almost entirely divided up by European powers, “the camera became something of an imperial device”, said Sarah Cascone on Artnet.
Western photographers’ images told stories “about the history, culture and identity of the African continent” – often portraying it and its inhabitants as exotic and alien.
Tate Modern’s new exhibition, subtitled ‘Contemporary African Photography’, seeks to counter this tendency by showcasing the work of African photographers who have used the medium “on their own terms”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Broad and ‘bitty’
This ambitious show brings together around 100 works by 36 artists from across the continent, dating from the immediate post-colonial period to the present day. It seeks to show how contemporary photographers are reclaiming African history and inviting viewers “to reconsider the continent’s place in the world”.
There are moments where the art here justifies the show’s lofty intentions, said Alastair Sooke in The Daily Telegraph. Hassan Hajjaj’s “stereotype-smashing” portraits of an all-female biker gang from his native Morocco, for example, “fizz like stills from a vintage MTV video”. Sabelo Mlangeni’s Country Girls series is a “psychologically complex and revealing” project documenting gay life in rural South Africa.
But as a whole, the exhibition feels “abbreviated and bitty”. And how could it be otherwise? There are 1.2 billion people in Africa, and the show covers a period of 60 years. One moment we’re at a South African picnic; the next we’re in an indigenous community in Algeria. And the curators’ insistence that all the artists here are repudiating “the colonial gaze” seems rather unconvincing.
At times there does seem to be a prevailing aesthetic: photos with a “theatrical quality enhanced by painted backdrops and plasticky props”, featuring high-keyed colours and eye-catching patterns. But African photography as a whole proves “impossible to corral”.
‘Dynamic’ visions
Of course the show covers a lot of ground, said Laura Cumming in The Observer. But the 36 artists are judiciously selected, and offer many “exhilarating, dynamic, compelling and profound” visions of this “unimaginably vast continent”.
Nigeria’s Andrew Esiebo fields “colossal cityscapes” of a “teeming Lagos” in which “people park their cars on the highways and demolished buildings are propped up as shacks”. George Osodi’s “dazzling” photographs of present-day Nigerian monarchs in their finery record a part of that country’s heritage all but ignored in Europe.
There are 1950s Algerian villagers “got up like Marlon Brando”, and “Mauritanian migrants trying to reach the shores of the Mediterranean”. Edson Chagas’s extraordinary passport-style photos of Angolans show each sitter wearing “a highly expressive Bantu mask”. It all adds up to a terrifically “vital experience”.
Tate Modern, London SE1 (tate.org.uk). Until 14 January 2024
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
AI hallucinations are getting worse
In the Spotlight And no one knows why it is happening
-
Social media: How ‘content’ replaced friendship
Feature Facebook has shifted from connecting with friends to competing with entertainment companies
-
The Alien Enemies Act
Feature President Trump is using a long-dormant law to deport Venezuelans. How does it work?
-
A journey into Egypt's western desert
The Week Recommends There is much more to be found in Egypt when straying from the usual tourist destinations
-
Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style: full of 'revelations and surprises'
The Week Recommends The Design Museum's sweeping collection of all things swimming contains hidden depths
-
The Ugly Stepsister: 'slyly funny' body-horror take on Cinderella
The Week Recommends Emilie Blichfeldt's cutting Norwegian revision of the classic fairy tale leaves no character unscathed
-
John Boyne shares his favourite books
The Week recommends The bestselling novelist picks works by Tobias Wolff, Christos Tsiolkas, and Agatha Christie
-
The Brightening Air: a 'gripping' family drama
The Week Recommends Connor McPherson's Chekhovian drama about a pair of siblings whose lives are upended by the arrival of their relations
-
6 isolated homes for hermits
Feature Featuring a secluded ranch on 560 acres in New Mexico and a home inspired by a 400-year-old Italian farmhouse in Colorado
-
Allies at War: a 'revelatory' account of the Second World War
The Week Recommends Tim Bouverie's 'old-fashioned diplomatic history' explores the often fraught relationship between world powers
-
The Friend: a 'graceful' but flawed dog movie
The Week Recommends Naomi Watts stars in 'intelligent' adaptation of Sigrid Nunez's book about a 'problematic pooch'