“So many people have tried to
define the feeling the French call mal d'Afrique which
in fact is a disease. The English never had a definition
for it, I guess, because they never liked to admit that
they were being threatened in any way by this continent.
Obviously, because they preferred the idea of ruling
it rather than being ruled by it."
In le Mal d'Afrique, renowned photojournalist,
Guillaume Bonn, treats viewers to an unprecedented and
extraordinarily diverse glimpse into present day Africa,
while also sharing the personal context of being born
and raised there and how this history informs his remarkable
photographs.
Bonn's pictures explore Africa's painful
history and his family's role in it. He grapples as well
with the many challenges Africa faces in the future,
in holding onto its traditions, in maintaining its natural
beauty and in grappling with urban sprawl. These threats
to the Africa Guillaume Bonn has come to know so well
are here captured and reproduced for the first time.
To illustrate a bit of his past, Bonn
has also opened up his family photo album which illustrates
four generations of family members who called Africa
home. Here, we see Bonn's great grandfather in military
uniform during an expedition to Niger and Sudan, or his
grandfather hunting a giant crocodile in Madagascar or
his father wearing a colonial era-pith helmet while being
cradled by his nanny. The album photographs Bonn shares
show us the complicated and troubled history of Africa's
colonial past ”the trouble left in the colonialists'
wake” while also revealing the personal, human
scale of passion for and interest in this unique and
unmatched region of the world.
French photojournalist Guillaume Bonn
is a third generation born in Africa. He has covered
the continent for the last decade, traveling everywhere
from war-torn Congo, Darfur and Mogadishu where he was
shot at, and kidnapped. He is a regular contributor to
The New York Times and Vanity Fair and his work has also
appeared in publications like Newsweek and Time among
others.
Visit Guillaume Bonn Photographer website: www.thinkpictures.org
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