AFRIKA
I Am - Paradox Identity
LSE FRECH

I Am is a project of Ilse Frech about young women who have grown up within the Muslim culture in the outer suburbs of Paris. Frech's photographs are intimate portraits of young women seeking their identity, as they find themselves often in between two cultures.
Being Muslim, they search for a practice to their own degree. These women, each of them as an individual, represent altogether a universal value -freed from 'the veil'- meant as a metaphor in this case. Their beliefs and intimate self-reflected thoughts are captured in images and recorded through conversations over a period of time, picturing an unexpected personal view. It is within this intimacy that a paradox arises around their 'double' identities that creates a confrontation between their inner world and the outer world, which otherwise remains unseen.
All over Europe the immigration waves of the 1960s and 70s have led to a great cultural and social diversity, but the worldwide negative trend posed by media coverage of Muslims is too often designated as an eizes them. The photographs in this publication give the women a face, as the interviews give them nvironment of social marginalization. Frech's work questions the double layer that arises, in de-picting Muslim women 'seen' from another perspective to that of the image building of the media that rather stigmatized their personal voice.

I Am - Paradox Identity, ILSE FRECH, €38,50.-

Cascoland. Interventions in Public Space

DRILL HALL, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

Cascoland is a multidisciplinary public art project involving international artists, architects, designers, local talent and initiatives as well as urban communities and stakeholders.
The aim is to explore a series of interventions in public space to create awareness of urban issues, mobility and the use of public space in a positive and creative framework, and to mobilize local residents, artists and initiatives to participate in the shaping of their public space.
The first SA edition, 'Cascoland eNewXds2006', took place from 1 February to 12 March 2006 in New Crossroads, Cape Town. The Joubert Park Project has invited Cascoland to execute a second SA edition of the project at the Drill Hall (in the heart of Johannesburg's inner city), Johannesburg between 1 February and 18 March 2007.
Through artistic interventions in public space, the construction of architectural objects, research into the use of public spaces and audience participation the Drill Hall regained it's public function.
With contributions amongst others by: Fiona de Bell, Ismail Farouk, Johan Gustavsson, Doung AnwarJahangeer, Bert Kramer, Hannah Leroux, Maja Marx, Nkosinathi Thomas Ngulube, Michiel van Oosterhout, Usha Seejarim, Jair Straschnow and Alex Wafer.
'All it took to turn one of downtown Joburg's no-go zones into an urban playground was a few artists and some Dutch courage. .. Cascoland challenged some of the fundamental preconceptions of a city that is clearly in crisis when it comes to public space.'
Adam Levin - Sunday Times
This publication and project have been made possible with support of the Mondriaan Foundation, Joubert Park Project, Stichting Doen/Nationale Postcode Loterij, NCDO, BASA & NAC, Adtech Group, Vega, Blessed-one Studio's, Film Resource Unit, and the Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture.

Impressions D`Afrique Christian Wachter Das Künstlerbuch von Christian Wachter ist in drei Abschnitte gegliedert und versammelt Bilder aus Afrika und Europa (Videostills, Zeichnungen und klassische analoge Fotografien). Impressions D’AFRIQUE behandelt Fragen von Identität und Differenz und damit auch ein ästhetisch und politisch sehr relevantes Thema.

" …Mein erster Lehrer, Erich Kees, 1981 in Graz, gab Anfängern wie mir gerne den Rat, doch Prousts Suche nach der verlorenen Zeit zu lesen, um etwas über Fotografie zu lernen. Ich denke, ich habe verstanden, was er meinte. Doch erst einige Jahre später, mit der Lektüre von Roussels Locus solus und Impressions d’Afrique wurde ich aufgeregt und in die Lage versetzt, in meinen eigenen Bildern zu denken …" (Christian Wachter, 2006).

D/E

The Refugee JackpotKarijn Kakebeeke / Eefje Blankevoort

From a refugee camp to a working-class neighbourhood in small town Kollum, The Netherlands. Hamida from Somalia exchanged her mud hut for a three storey row house and can now send her children to school and learn how to read and write herself for the first time. But she has also been subject to racism and incomprehension.
Every year, vulnerable refugees from countries such as Iraq, Somalia or Ethiopia are selected and invited to the Netherlands to build a new life. That is a beautiful ideal, but how attainable is it in practice? In what way does the Netherlands take care of these people? And most importantly, what is it like to begin anew here?
Photographer Karijn Kakebeeke and journalist Eefje Blankevoort followed the selection and integration process of a group invited refugees, during a year and a half from spring 2009 up to the fall of 2010.
The Refugee Jackpot throws light on all sides of the story. Kakebeeke en Blankevoort address the opportunities and joy of the refugees but also the disappointments, the lives they leave behind and the (im)possibilities of the Dutch refugee policies

Cascoland. Interventions in Public Space, € 22,50

Impressions D`Afrique Christian Wachter, € 29.-

The Refugee Jackpot, KARIJN KAKEBEEKE / EEFJE BLANKEVOORT, € 27,80.-