A World In Common

A World in Common is a celebration of the visual and cultural landscape of contemporary African photography. Edited by Osei Bonsu, curator of International Art at Tate Modern, this stunning exhibition book offers critical insight from the perspectives of Africa’s leading artists and thinkers.

Since the invention of photography in the 19th century, Africa has been defined largely by Western images of its cultures and traditions. From the colonial carte de visite and ethnographic archive to the rise of studio portraiture and social documents of racial surveillance, the fraught relationship between Africa and the photographic lens has become inseparable from the discourses of postcolonialism.

Challenging these dominant images of exoticism and otherness, this book illustrates how photography has allowed artists to reimagine African histories through the lens of the present, to shape our understanding of the contemporary realities we face.

Bringing together a diverse range of artists and thinkers to present varied perspectives on issues such as cultural heritage and restitution, spirituality, urbanism, and climate change, A World in Common reveals how innovative contemporary photography challenges perceptions of history, culture, and identity.

Osei Bonsu is curator of International Art at Tate Modern, where he is responsible for organizing exhibitions, developing the museum’s collection, and broadening the representation of artists from Africa and the African diaspora. In 2020, he was named as one of Apollo magazine’s 40 under 40 leading African voices. Bonsu is author of African Art Now (2022).