Projects tagged "Africa"

Princess Diana’s 1997 landmine walk: ‘I come with my heart’
Practitioner:
Princess Diana, The American Red Cross
Date:
Jan 15 1997
It's an evocative image — and it was intended to be: Diana, Princess of Wales, wearing a protective visor and flak jacket, walking through a live minefield in Huambo, Angola. The image of the princess, at the time one of most famous women in the world, surrounded by danger, made headlines across the world.
Photographer Stéphan Gladieu Documents the Congolese Street Children Turning Waste into Wonder
Practitioner:
Stéphan Gladieu and the artists in Kinshasa
Date:
Jun 15 2020
“So dramatic, so strong, so visual,” artist Stéphan Gladieu said of his first encounter with the revival of an ancestral folk art movement in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Kinshasa is the capital of Congo but also one of the many places American and European countries send their waste.
Woe Fie
Practitioner:
Angel Maxine
Date:
Jul 26 2021
Can you finish the lyric? “Your driver could be LGBTQ, Your Tailor could be LGBTQ,…” If you can’t, you may be a part of the majority who doesn’t know about the song Wo Fie. However, for those in the LGBTQIA+ community, and followers of Ghanaian musician Angel Maxine, the song has become a Pride month anthem.
Women are Heroes Project
Practitioner:
JR
Date:
Jan 1 2008
In Women Are Heroes, JR introduces women who sometimes look death in the face, who go from laughter to tears, who are generous, have nothing and yet share, who have had a painful past and long to build a happy future.
UCT Students Strip Down to Highlight Concerns Over Rape Culture
Practitioner:
UTC Students
Date:
May 10 2016
Students have accused university management of having a lack of concern about the issue. CAPE TOWN – University of Cape Town (UCT) students have stripped to their underwear to highlight their concerns over rape culture on campus. Dozens of students have gathered outside the Bremner Building to discuss sexual assault and sexual harassment at the university.
Conserving the Gola Rainforests: Sierra Leone and Liberia unite for a peaceful future
Practitioner:
United Nations Sustainable Development Group
Date:
Apr 23 2025
The Gola Rainforest, straddling Sierra Leone and Liberia is a lush, green haven. Spanning about 700 square kilometers and stretches across both countries, the rainforest is home to diverse and globally threatened wildlife, including over 300 bird species and endangered species such as pygmy hippos, chimpanzees, and forest elephants.
The "marriage effect"
Practitioner:
Amnesty International
Date:
Mar 20 2014
Rights activists in Mozambique have marched through the capital Maputo to protest a colonial era law still included in new legislation that allows rapists to go unpunished if they marry their victims. The "marriage effect" clause sees convicted rapists given a five-year suspended sentence if they marry their victims and stipulates that the perpetrator should stay married to the victim for at least five years.
Puppetry is the sum of the collective human imaginary
Practitioner:
Yaya Coulibali
Date:
Jan 1 2024
The veteran Malian master puppeteer Yaya Coulibali, born in 1959 in the village of Koula, around 100 kilometres north-east of Bamako, has more than half a century of experience in puppetry and has toured the world to perform his art.
Ghana Wins Election 2016
Practitioner:
Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Rebecca Ekpe etc.
Date:
Dec 1 2016
An exercise that used drama/and audio visuals to engage with with all election partners, especially the political parties especially the political parties and their candidates/leaders, Electoral Commission, Musicians Association of Ghana, etc to push for a free, fair and peaceful Presidential and Parliamentary election and hand over of power to who ever won the elections peacefully.
Picha Mtaani
Practitioner:
Boniface Mwangi
Date:
Dec 7 2009
On 7th December 2009, “Picha Mtaani” was launched at a colorful ceremony in Nairobi. “Picha Mtaani” in partnership with UNDP Kenya, was an initiative that seeks to create a platform for peace building, national healing and cohesion through street picture galleries, hosted dialogues and repertoire of the reflections and discussions.
Stella Nyanzi's Birthday Poem "Yoweri, they say it was your birthday yesterday."
Practitioner:
Stella Nyanzi
Date:
Sep 15 2018
Dr. Stella Nyanzi, a Ugandan medical anthropologist, activist, and writer, was convicted after writing and posting a poem online, in which she criticized Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his mother. In November 2018, Ugandan authorities charged Dr. Nyanzi with “cyber harassment” and “offensive communication” under Sections 24 and 25 of the 2011 Computer Misuse Act, and detained her in connection with the poem.
The Green Belt Movement
Practitioner:
Wangari Maathai
Date:
Apr 1 1977
The Green Belt Movement (GBM) was founded by Professor Wangari Maathai in 1977 under the auspices of the National Council of Women of Kenya (NCWK) to respond to the needs of rural Kenyan women who reported that their streams were drying up, their food supply was less secure, and they had to walk further and further to get firewood for fuel and fencing.
Operndorf Afrika Village
Practitioner:
Christoph Schlingensief
Date:
Sep 1 2016
Not far from the Burkina Faso capital of Ouagadougou, approximately 30 kilometers, lies Operndorf Afrika, a village that’s governed by art and a global exchange of culture.
Org Brings Women Menstrual Products & Education To Global Level
Practitioner:
Days for Girls International
Date:
Feb 1 2020
Although we are in the supposedly modern and advanced year of 2020, there are still at least 500 million women and girls that lack adequate facilities for menstrual hygiene management, according to the World Bank Organization.
Kinshasa Costumes
Practitioner:
Ndaku Ya La Vie Est Belle
Date:
Aug 20 2021
The collective Ndaku Ya La Vie Est Belle, a group of Kinshasa street performers turn their bodies into living sculptures, and use them to political ends. Among the artists is Jared, who regularly takes to the streets dressed as Robot Annonce. The costume, made from broken radio parts, is designed to raise awareness of fake news. “People receive so much incorrect information and many inaccuracies are spread. I want to fight this,” says Jared.
New Walk Ways in New Bell
Practitioner:
Kamiel Verschuren
Date:
Dec 1 2010
The city of Douala in Cameroon had a huge problem associated with malfunctioning water drainage systems. This is due the fact that in many illegally constructed areas of the town, the sewers are without cover, and after heavy rainfall, this would generally lead to floods and related threats to public health.
Above's Blood Diamond
Practitioner:
ABOVE
Date:
Apr 10 2012
Africa has had a devastating history of blood diamond wars. Blood diamond refers to a diamond mined in a war zone and then sold to finance an invading army's war efforts, usually in Africa where more than two-thirds of the worlds diamonds are extracted. This site specific social / political word play was painted on the exterior wall of Johannesburg's largest diamond trader Jewel City.
Congo Man Sets Himself Ablaze for Peace
Practitioner:
Unidentified Man
Date:
Nov 8 2023
A video that was first posted on X (formerly Twitter) on November 8, of a Congolese man setting himself on fire has gone viral. The gruesome clip has started a discussion on whether a genocide is occurring in the DRC and is being ignored by both Africa and the rest of the world.
Dramatic Recovery
Practitioner:
Topsy Foundation
Date:
Mar 1 2010
What is it like living with AIDS? This heart-wrenching video for South Africa’s Topsy Foundation brings us through 90 hard days in the life of someone living with it. Be sure to watch it all the way to the end. It’s worth it: Did you catch that? If you didn’t, watch it again. Spoiler after the jump.
Mandela Danced
Practitioner:
Nelson Mandela
Date:
Jan 1 1980
Mandela's notion of manhood changed over time. In the early days, he evoked the image of toughness to deal with an enemy that would not respond to reason. When it became possible to secure peace through talking, Mandela adapted. After his release his image was one of warmth and inclusiveness, embracing those who feared majority rule and even his former enemies.
Afrofuturism: An Interview with Krista Franklin
Practitioner:
Krista Franklin
Date:
Jun 21 2016
The term “Afrofuturism” was coined in the 1990s by the cultural critic Mark Dery, who recognized a preoccupation with the future in the work of a number of black artists. Ever since, it has remained a term that is retrospectively applied to seemingly disparate artists, from Missy Elliot to Toni Morrison. What unites the movement is a shared fascination with the black experience, particularly in America.
Labs Creates Sustainable Music Studios in Unlikely Places
Practitioner:
Beat Making Lab
Date:
Mar 13 2013
It started as an experiment: what happens when you equip a vibrant youth community with the resources to express themselves through hip hop and electronic music? Last summer I traveled to Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo to find out and the results were more beautiful than I could have imagined.
WOMEN ARE HEROES /
Practitioner:
JR
Date:
Jan 1 2009
The Women Are Heroes project has various steps in Africa, in Kenya, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Sudan. In January 2009, 2000 square meters of rooftops are covered with photos of the eyes and faces of the women of Kibera, in Kenya. Most of the women have their own photos on their own rooftop and for the first time the material used is water resistant so that the photo itself will protect the fragile houses in the heavy rain season.
Zanele Muholi: 'I'm a visual activist'
Practitioner:
Zanele Muholi
Date:
Jan 5 2018
I am a visual activist. Most of what I have done over the years focuses on black LGBTQIA+ and gender-non-conforming individuals from South Africa and other neighbouring countries. It’s about making sure we exist in the visual archive. I call myself a visual activist — or, rather, a cultural activist, because this work is not only about the arts; I’m focusing on education, I’m dealing with culture in a way that confronts a number of issues.
Unity, Democracy and Courage
Practitioner:
Medu Art Ensemble
Date:
Aug 7 1983
One of the most pressing questions before us in the United States now is how to resolve the tension between our personal visions and needs, on the one hand, and the demands of being a member of a community, on the other.

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