Informative Photography In Ethiopia: availability And Exposure
Like many developing nations, Ethiopia is undergoing substantial changes in its spatial, and socio-economic landscapes. As artists we respond, oppose, or simply document these changes using our preferred mode of communication.
Michael Tsegaye
He’s born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1975, lives and works in Addis Ababa as a photographer. Initially studying art, he received his diploma from Addis Ababa University’s School of Fine Arts and Design in 2002. As a fine art photographer, Michael’s work has an attentive voice in recording and documenting his surroundings. Series such as ‘Future Memories’ display the artist’s grasp of change and shifting typography of the city.
Contemporaries
In her photographic search Frehiwot Gebrealu focuses on the radical change of Addis as visual experience in juxtaposing the chaos of rubble or half destroyed old buildings with shiny new facades of the commercial and administrative centres of power. While dealing with the omnipresent experience of urban change as well, Abdi Bekele chose to explore the role of women as construction workers and their unseen contribution to the ‘Foundation’ not only of buildings but also of the society at large. Coming from street photography Bemnet Fekadu went out looking for the defining characteristics of Addis Ababa as a city focusing on the distinct aesthetic qualities of its historical architecture that bears testimony of a past ‘Era’. One of the changes brought about by the recent development of Addis Ababa is a mass placement of dwellers from city centers to peripheries, implications of which I documented in Sparse Density.
Informing Through Photography
Photography is also a way of informing. Photographs are accompanied by text in Newspapers but there aren’t many avid readers, especially in the younger generation (18–25). Add to that photography being considered a luxury and almost inaccessible, and a gap in how and who the documentations done by the likes of artists mentioned above reach new audiences forms. Bridging this gap is a task that requires efforts from theoretical and practicing artists to teach the value of art and photography not to mention willingness of the community to learn. That is for another article.
This made me wonder how the young generation consumes media. There has always been a sort of media censorship in the country. All news agencies are either owned by the state or controlled by it. This has forced many Ethiopians to look for other news outlets such as the likes of ESAT — an independent news company founded in the USA — and popular western media like BBC and CNN for instance, whose coverage of Ethiopia is low to rare. The other, highly informal method of consumption is through social media, of which Facebook is the most popular. The only telecommunications company in the country has made a permanent discount to its mobile data tariffs by 40%. The current government has changed its stance on freedom of press, deciding that censorship is not the right way of doing things. Even with a decreasing rate of media and press censorship, most of the news consumed is provided by social media or through said news outlets. EthioTelecom’s discount has become a pull factor in the heavy use of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Exposure to Informative Photography
I began to question where the Ethiopia-related news is. Since I am mostly on Instagram, I noticed there isn’t much on current affairs related to Ethiopia on Instagram. Much of what’s on Ethiopia on Instagram is a sort of content that seems to feed into the counter-narrative and of course, memes.
As an Urban Planner, I began to wonder, since much of current events are not on Instagram, how Instagram users from Ethiopia catch up on the changes Ethiopia, especially the capital Addis Ababa is undergoing. Are these current affairs so unimportant that their effects are not observable in the current lives of Ethiopians through photographs taken and uploaded on Instagram? Can one trace changes in Addis Ababa through photographs of the everyday? Because if one can’t, one can conclude that what is seen on Instagram is devoid of the current reality the city is undergoing.
Traces of a City’s Changes and Everyday Photographs
One must first define what these “traces that hint a city’s change” are. A city undergoing physical change — with due disregard to the cause of change — is often depicted by demolition and construction debris; workers, laborers in their work clothing and gear; construction raw material as well as tools and machinery; dirty streets; disorganized movement of people and vehicles; fences that denote a construction will take place within the area; roads that are narrow because dumped construction material has occupied most part of the road; and the like.
It is necessary to define what “everyday photographs” are in the context of this blog post. Everyday photographs are photos that are taken by non-photographers; everyday photographs are those that are taken without much thought or intent as to how the photograph will look. Rather everyday photographs are taken in order to show a person or activity that is seen in ordinary life. Everyday photographs’ sole purpose is to show and tell. They aren’t here to be artistically critiqued or seen as an artifact that arouse one’s visual and aesthetic senses. Everyday photographs are functional than artistic. Photographs that depict the everyday are that way because there is no noticeable photographic intent in their production. Meaning there is little to no observable care taken as to how light, and composition will influence the photograph.
Traces of Change in Photographs of the Everyday
The question here is whether one can observe traces of the city’s change in everyday photographs. To find an answer, I searched through many Instagram accounts that are location tagged in Addis Ababa. Although I doubt the level of frequency of use of the Geo-tagging feature among users in Ethiopia is high, this approach helps me to easily narrow down what I am looking for. Then, using my criteria for photographs that depict the everyday I looked where the traces of change can be observed. It is already established that photographic work that solely aim to document these changes will not be considered as my aim is to see how much of these changes are seen in ordinary, everyday life. Presented below are twenty photographs that depict these changes. Below are ordinary, everyday photographs where traces of change is observable along with a description.
The ground is clad with Terrazzo. A building material that has become a prevalent material in recent years. Before that it was cement. Cement is used for walls as well as for paving floors. Notice the finish on the walls that are painted green. This finish is prevalent in government housing built during 1980’s. There is that wall finish. There is the pavement. One can draw a conclusion that an economic change has come about in this household or that the overall trace of change within the city as a whole has seeped into this house.
The construction material used for the houses are indicative of change. The ones on the left and right of the pink house are corrugated iron sheets made in factories while the pink house is made of iron sheet that is not from a factory. It is quite possible that the iron sheets are a mix of different iron sheets, collected from various locations and pinned together as one. Notice the two bulbs at the top of the houses. One on the left is a candescent bulb, the one on the right is an incandescent bulb. There is change in the use of technology. A prevalence of new technology implies a death of the old. This is indicative of the city-wide changes.
In the photo above, one notices the city at night time. This photo would have been powerful had it been placed next to a photo taken at a similar location. At a similar time. This enables one to draw a comparative analysis of the city using just the visual distribution and intensity of the lights in this area.
Because of the existence of these photos, one can take out the potential conclusion that what is seen on Instagram is devoid of the current reality Addis Ababa is undergoing. The existence of these photos says that there is a need to write about the changes from a variety of vantage points.