Atong Atem: Studio Series
Her work will be presented at Unseen Photo Fair , Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam, from September 23 until September 25, 2016.
Quotes:
I’ve always been making art that was Afro-centric or turned towards colonialism, race, and gender. I got into that young from coming to Australia as a migrant. You’re almost forced to confront your identity as an “other” immediately. I’m ethnically South Sudanese, but my family migrated as refugees when I was six years old after leaving South Sudan via Ethiopia and living in a refugee camp in Kenya.
My photos emulate the studio photography that was introduced to many parts of Africa by the British.
I think it is really political and a huge act for people of colour to claim their identity in loud and obvious ways. I think that’s really cool and important. For white people to take what we use as identifiers of ourselves and parade them around is really disrespectful and belittling of our experiences. (quotes from interview Emma Do, 2 June 2015, in I-D Magazine)(copyright photos the artist)