RISE Africa 2021 Photo Competition Exhibition

There are many futures that our cities could manifest.

The 2021 theme of “My Afro-Future City is…” asks you to reflect about what your city or community could be in 2025, 2040, 2063 or 2100.

These could be sweeping skyline visions, or hidden urban happenings.

What could make your cities more inclusive, joyful, healthy, efficient, happy, safe and enjoyable?

What futures or actions must we avoid?

Let your creativity loose and share your visions of your city or of any African city. 

WINNER

Daniel Attah – Age of technology

What the judges wanted to see

Show us how your future city works.

Entries can be abstract or literal. Think social documentary, fashion, still life, portraits, any form your stories take,  the creative licence is yours! As long as the image is still (no video, please) and shows us your future African city imaginary and vision. We are looking for provocative images with strong aesthetic value, meaningful content and alignment with the theme.

For inspiration check out @FutureAfricanCities. The subjects of your photography should truthfully and positively represent people and the cities.

Criteria for selection

Aesthetic Value

Provocative or Innovative Imagery

In Line with Theme

Prizes

Winner $500

Two finalists $200

FINALISTS

Kwiz Era – AFROTOPIA

“Unity will not make us rich, but it can at least make it difficult for Africa and the African peoples to be disregarded and humiliated” Mwalimu Julius Nyerere

I have a dream on this day.
It is of a child in a deep sleep, with an afro so green that is of our nature and eco friendliness.

It is now, she says
That Africa is about to wake because young people are on the move, with this mission and slogans from our fore-fathers who were freedom fighters, who did not die in vain.

I see Africa reclaim its rightful dimensions on the globe.
Where our veins feed direct from these rivers of gold, with nature continuing to bless us as we grow more conscious of it and its resourcefulness.
We then protect and defend it as well as the ideas that have been home bred.
I see us find our very own solutions to our own problems, communally as the folks before us once did.

A city where people power is the core of our growth in respect to all that is founded by this idea.
As we integrate into a bond, stronger than before with priority from the lowest level of being, paving way for trade relations, cultural exchange and infrastructural partnerships.

I have seen failed measures such as GDP so old, dead and buried, new and better modules designed in consideration of humanity and other well being aspects, from our own interests to an economy that is fully protected.

Imperialism with its evils and vices put down and a people so free and well informed because they have learnt of their history.
They now exercise their freedoms in speech and expression such as the media and gender equality being uplifted.
A city inspired by change from below.

Then we are in hammocks under money trees,
planted by our effort and originality in what we consider wealth, together.

Ahairwebyona Monica – RISE FAST, RISE RIGHT

My Afro-Future City is in a process of growth. Experiencing different waves of development all at the same time unlike other continents which experienced these one at a time. My story is interrogating what that means for us as a continent. Nairobi city in Kenya was my subject. Below is the narrative.

Africa has, during the post-colonial era, grown an urban sprawl on the land it occupies like a spiraling goosebumps. In the East of Africa lies a city, Nairobi in Kenya –one of the fastest-growing cities in the region presumably because of the stature of their economy, and the level of their infrastructural development.

On my first contact with the city, Nairobi was a rather charming and thought-provoking city; from the iconic diversity it inheres, the alluring high rise buildings to the shacks –the innumerable labyrinths and the intricacy of the road network.

I tackled this topic through the lens of people and their surrounding environment. I perceive a city to be the manifestation of people’s needs, culture, and maybe choices. These spaces are in most cases an accurate depiction of the different social strata –the class of people trying to cope up with the upward trajectory of this urbanization.

Rising fast is a spectacular aspect of urbanization, but as we rise fast, there is a need to keep in mind that ‘as we rise fast, we should also rise right!’

SHORTLISTED ENTRIES