My name is Marc Abizade. I'm a photojournalist and documentary photographer. My work, whether
it be in the field or in Florence itself, revolves around one fundamental principle,
reminding us that which connects us as human beings and how we express this differently
through our own unique cultures. I've worked in the desert with the Bedouin. I've worked
throughout the Mediterranean with traditional fishermen. And at the same time, I provoke
Florentine audiences and audiences around the world to think. Africa Rising is a provocation.
It is a provocation based upon my knowing many Africans working with the Senegalese
community, but also specifically Alex. Alex is the subject of Africa Rising. The Slave
in My Africa Series is the African man trying to follow a model, a social and economic model,
which was designed to enslave us when the Africans who have all the strength, all the
intelligence, a different culture and have survived for so many years, when the African
acknowledges that the model in place is there to keep him enslaved. And he breaks these
invisible ropes and chairs that he imposes upon himself, trying to be Western. Then Africa
will rise.
My name is Thompson Yabonyoche from Ghana, West Africa. Actually, what we are doing here
is not for us alone, but for the entire nation in Ghana. Because some part of Ghana, the
artisan, don't have a means to sell their product. So that makes me to set up an organization
called Tiwai Kinti. Sometimes people think what you can do and get money out of it, but
it can make you happy, make you passionate, and then, you know, so I'm happy doing it.
The Tiwai Kinti cloth or cloth weaving is come down from ancient Egyptian civilization
time, where our forefathers also passed through Nigeria, Niger, Nigeria, Benet, Togo, Ghana.
So actually, weaving is all over, but we mention this Kinti cloth just because of the motifs,
the color symbols, because we use colors of Kana flag to make a Kinti cloth. This cloth
usually is speaking. It's a talking cloth.
My real name is Samela Samela, and I'm from Ghana, but I sign pro-fast. When I grew up,
I developed that skill in school, after the university. And I always want movement. I
like movement. If the painting is just static, those who are looking at it see it as just
something on a flat surface. But if you create movement and then perspective, it brings life
into the ring. That one is about supremacy of God. Baobab is a very light tree, and it's
a common tree in Africa. Baobab symbolizes authority. Yes, it symbolizes authority.
So if you look at the branches, I've developed the branches in such a way that you can see
election, and that is, those were there is Allah, Allah. So I'm using that Baobab to represent
supremacy of God. Africa Rising is dedicated to all of us, because in one way or another,
we are all slaves to a model that is broken.
