It’s here. After months of planning, of meetings, of scheming and dreaming between three 20-something photographers on two different coasts, the inaugural issue of the Mambu Badu magazine is finally here.
Some background information:
Mambu Badu is a photography collective that seeks to find, expose, and nurture emerging female photographers of African descent.
“Mambu Badu” is an adaptation of the Swahili phrase “Mambo Bado” which is loosely translated as “the best has yet to come.” At this moment, we dwell in an exciting space of possibility where we can grow as artists. We invite other Black/African American female photographers to join us in this journey. We are approaching our art and this collective with a with a humble heart, a curious nature, and a persevering spirit.
Please click the photo above (the cover image is by Nikita Gale, who was also the subject of one of my first posts for Innervisions) to launch the magazine. Feel free to leave a comment here or email themambubadu (at) gmail (dot) com.
Cross-post from my other labor of love, Mambu Badu:
As the ladies of Mambu Badu are working away on the inaugural magazine and logistics for the summer exhibit, the first cohort of selected artist have steadily been working on some great projects. See what these photographers have been up to and do not hesitate to shoot us an email with questions.
We are definitely planning future calls for entry so be sure to subscribe to our posts, follow us on Twitter (@mambubadu), ‘like’ us on Facebook, and email us (themambubadu@gmail.com) to stay up-to-date on the latest news from Mambu Badu.
(c) Yodith Dammalash, 2011 from the Gama Series
- SHOW ME YOUR TAX BRACKET // A mixed media, invitational group exhibit featuring over 40 artists from St. Louis, across the United States and Canada. (Curated by Bryan Walsh and Danielle Spradley @ Aisle 1 Gallery) The exhibit will open March 18, 2011 and continue through April 16, 2011. Gallery Hours: Saturdays Noon-4pm or by appointment
- Gama Series, an on-going series about my Ethiopian-born grandmother living in America.
- Currently showing work at the Auburn Avenue Research Library in Atlanta until April 30th.
- Participating in Irrational Exuberance, a group show at the Invisible Dog Gallery in NYC from April 30th – May 8th.
- Collaborating with Streetela, Atlanta streetwear brand. Show will be held April 9th at Studio 900, Atlanta. Interview.
- Showing work in a silent auction and fundraiser for AALAC at Kai Lin Gallery in Atlanta on April 14th.
- Currently, Sheree is working on her book and as documentarian for Brotherman Comics.
- The youth journalism program co-founded by Tonika “Toni” Johnson, was recently featured in The Chicago Tribune Newspaper.
- Tonika recently returned from Paris, France photodocumenting the concert of Chicago’s local rapper, Rita J, at La Bellevilloise.
NKECHI EBUBEDIKE
- Currently working as a producer on a documentary focused on the creation of “Rational House,” a low-cost, sustainable urban housing development in London. The project will be launched at the prototypes unveiling this summer.
The LADIES OF MAMBU BADU are up to a few projects as well:
- Ms. Alice Wonder AKA Allison McDaniel just posted a series of photographs entitled, “It’s Warm Somewhere.” While the east coast has been battling through its share of frigid weather, Allison’s warm and inviting photographs are a reminder sun, shorts, and picnics are not too far away.
- Danielle Scruggs‘ self-portraits were just published in F-Stop Magazine Issue #46, “All About Me.” Scroll to the 12th row to see two of her images.
- Kameelah Rasheed‘s photographs of South Africa were published in Harvard’s Transition Magazine. Kameelah’s conceptual piece, “Counterfeit: Like a Virgin” was published in South African-based magazine, ITCH. Her essay, “Lines of Bad Grammar” is published in the book I Speak for Myself: American Women on Being Muslim, which will be released on May 2nd. She is interning for Liberator Magazine and is interviewing New York-based artists including Laylah Amatullah Barrayan, Jamel Shabazz and Dread Scott.
Although it is still chilly here in the DC-Baltimore corridor, a sure sign of spring has finally arrived: the National Cherry Blossom Festival! I took my mother—who flew in from Chicago to visit me—to the Tidal Basin on Saturday, the first day of this two-week festival to see the blossoms, which were given to D.C. from Japan as a gift of friendship nearly 100 years ago.
The trees have a fleeting beauty; they look best during their peak blooming date, which is a rather short window of time. Definitely be sure to check out the festival sooner rather than later. For more information on the festival and related events, check out the official website here: http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/
(Photo by Melisa Goh/NPR)
Check out You Have Broken The Internet for more fantastic photos of my hometown covered beneath mounds and mounds of snow. The east coast really dodged a bullet there, no?
Image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Check out this satellite image of the snowstorm hitting the Midwest (and heading east, yikes). Beautiful and overwhelming all at once.
Oakland, Calif., Sept. 1987, Richard Nagler
It felt like a slap in the face.
When I first saw the above image on the (generally fabulous) NPR Picture Show blog, I reeled back from my computer screen as if I had been physically struck.
I have no idea what were the intentions of Richard Nagler, the photographer who created this image. Perhaps he didn’t even realize why juxtaposing a Black woman next to a sign that reads “Trash” is problematic at best. But I think it speaks volumes as to how ingrained distorted ideas and views on race and sex can become, and how images have the power to bring those latent thoughts to the forefront.
Seeing this image and noticing that the people at NPR Picture Show didn’t analyze the racial and gendered aspects of this photograph reminded me of why I do what I do. I’m a photographer as well. I have a vested interest in not only creating images, but analyzing them, dissecting them, and finding a deeper meaning to them. Sometimes, it’s tempting to think that a photo is just a photo. But images have power. And Nagler’s image made it that much more clear to me why I am a photographer, why I create the images I create and why I helped co-found a black women photographers collective.
Critique is important, to be sure, but making sure I’m actually creating the images I want to see, and encouraging others like me to do the same counts for just as much. Perhaps even more.
Check out these powerful images of Egyptian women in the streets, protesting and calling for President Hosni Mubarak to step down. Images of protests tend to be focused on men, so seeing women being just as engaged in active political change as their male counterparts is both refreshing and exciting.
Bonus: a Le Monde slideshow of the women of Tunisia. That country’s success in ousting President Ben Ali inspired the people of Egypt as well as the people of Algeria, Yemen and Jordan to protest their autocratic governments as well.
(Clockwise: Photos by Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters; Ben Curtis/AP; AFP; Yannis Behrakis/Reuters; Lefteris Pitarakis/AP)
The New York Times has a great interactive feature on six survivors of last year’s devastating earthquake in Haiti. One year later, the country faces numerous challenges as far as rebuilding its infrastructure, a cholera outbreak, a contested presidential election and the return of Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, the former dictator who was ousted 25 years ago and returned last week to ostensibly help the country.
What strikes me though, is the strength of the people, which is evident through these black and white photos taken by various Times photographers. The Haitian population has been through so much but these photos give me hope that they will not only survive the earthquake and its fallout, but will thrive later on. It won’t be easy. It won’t be quick. It won’t be without many more painful moments. But it will happen.
Photo by Vivian Maier
Check out this remarkable story of a life’s work lost and found from the BBC (and based in my hometown, Chicago):
The photographs reveal teeming streets, children at play in an alley, couples captured in a sleepy embrace, the intricate latticework of an elevated train platform, a drunk smeared in filth.
The arresting, artfully framed scenes from the streets and byways of New York, Chicago and beyond seem alive with movement. And for years, they were probably seen by no-one but the solitary Chicago nanny and amateur photographer who shot them.
But now, two years after her death in a nursing home, Vivian Maier is finally being recognised for her talent after a lifetime of obscurity.
Her life’s work, hundreds of thousands of black and white and colour photographs, was locked away in an abandoned storage unit, only to be revealed to the world after her death.
Maier was born in New York City in 1926, but many details of her life remain a mystery.
She spent some of her formative years in France and when she moved to Chicago after World War II to work as a nanny, she spoke with a French accent that delighted her charges.
Years later, the children she looked after described her as a Mary Poppins-like figure who took them on wild adventures and showed them unusual things.
According to those who knew her, Maier was opinionated and incredibly private. She worked for one family in Chicago for 17 years and as they tell it, she neither made nor received a single telephone call the entire time.
Read the rest of the story here. You can see more photos from this recently discovered trove here: http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/
Danielle Scruggs is a photographer and writer currently living and working in Washington, D.C., and Silver Spring, Md. Her work has been exhibited in Baltimore and Brooklyn and published by The Washington Post, Stop Smiling magazine, FILE magazine, and F-Stop Magazine. Scruggs holds an M.A. in Digital Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a B.A. in Journalism from Howard University. She is still very much in love with Charm City, albeit from a distance.