Photography
Malcolm Teferi Sow
Burkinabé-Canadian photographer and visual artist, Malcolm Teferi Sow, takes us on a journey across Africa that begins in his home country of Burkina Faso as a point of departure. Through the encounters captured in his spirited photographs, Sow weaves a tapestry of experiences that help bring into view the essential and important nature of community, kinship and togetherness — cornerstones of African culture and society.
Artist Statement
My name is Malcolm Teferi Sow (b.1998 -Chalmette, LA). Currently basing my work across as many planes of the african diaspora across the world as i travel. This selection of my archive was shot from 2017-2019, a range of photographs taken in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (my hometown), and across West Africa — often in Benin, all the way to Ethiopia. Through this period and every period of my archive, the work is about my personal exploration & discovery with the world. My camera serves as the tool that allows me to explore & gain a deeper understanding & appreciation with what is around me the people I encounter. The impetus is to represent my people through my photographs. In also knowing, I will never fully be able to represent contemporary black life through & across our vast complexities and intersubjectivity that makes us who we are; but in a sense of visibility, i cherish playing the role of illumination.
June - July 2020. Vol nº1