Press Kit Julius Mwelu & The Mwelu Foundation / Nairobi Photobook

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1 Press Kit Julius Mwelu & The Mwelu Foundation / Nairobi Photobook

2 Press Kit: Julius Mwelu & The Mwelu Foundation / Nairobi Africalia is proud to announce the new photobook Julius Mwelu & The Mwelu Foundation / Nairobi, a collective work made by the members of the Mwelu Foundation. Introduction Do you know Julius Mwelu? Probably not. His name doesn t feature in the art directories, and even though his photos are occasionally published in certain newspapers, they still only have a limited audience. On the other hand, if you come face to face with him one day, you will remember the experience for a long time. And the memory will be a joyful one, despite his roguish air. You can detect boldness and determination in his eyes, together with a disconcerting nonchalance and good humour. It is a gaze full of life. A few years ago, Julius told me that the best advice his mother had given him was: Make a new friend every day. In Mathare, a huge slum in Nairobi, he has many friends today. Not because he has promised them anything or because he has money or power, but because when you are in his company, you have the sense that things are possible. You don t know if they really are, but you feel like trying. Trying something different. Thanks to this energy and this generous friendship, he has convinced young people who originally wanted to play football to start looking at the world afresh through photography. If you want to make some friends in Mathare, this photography book is your best guide. You will be made welcome there. Frédéric Jacquemin Director of Africalia About Julius Mwelu Julius Mwelu was born and brought up in Nairobi, in the slum of Mathare. In 1997, at the age of 13, he discovered photography thanks to a joint initiative by the Kenyan footballer Françis Kimanzi and the American photographer Lana Wong. He became fascinated by the world of images, and participated actively in Shoot Back, an audiovisual project in which thirty young people were asked to record their daily lives with simple disposable cameras. Several of his pictures were selected, displayed and then published in 1999 in Shootback: Photos by Kids from the Nairobi Slums. He attended several workshops where he met the Dutch photographer Jasper Groen, who liked his work and supported him. He exhibited in the Netherlands and brought out a first solo publication entitled Julius, featuring images which are both funny and poignant of Mathare, one of the largest slums in Africa. While photographing his community, he shared his passion for images and in turn initiated young slumdwellers in photographic techniques. In 2007, he created the Mwelu Foundation, which now supervises 2

3 some fifty teenagers and gives them training in photography and digital imaging. Julius Mwelu and the young people thus share and capture the daily life of Mathare, as well as working on behalf of various awareness-raising programmes and literacy projects. By giving children a voice and promoting education, Julius Mwelu hopes to break the cycle of poverty and violence. In this context, he was chosen for the I m a City Changer campaign to play his part in the 2012 London Olympics by carrying the Olympic torch several hundred metres. Presentation of the photobook This book brings us into the heart of Mathare, one of Nairobi s many slums. In the Dantesque world of this slum city, hundreds of thousands of people live crowded together in a narrow valley without any facilities. This part of Nairobi constitutes a permanent social blight in Kenya s capital. This might provoke a sense of despair, but just like in a Kenyan folk tale, this city too has produced its heroes, people who are capable of moving mountains. Julius Mwelu, an inspired, generous and charismatic photographer... is part of them. Julius and his team went walking among the people, the sheet metal roofs and the jerrycans. Above all, though, he trained and encouraged children and teenagers, gathered in the Foundation which carries his name, to see the world around them in a different light. Trained by their mentor in the use of the camera lens, these youngsters in turn took a complicit but distinctly critical look at the state of the place where they live. Several teenage members of the Mwelu Foundation have shared their viewpoint and shown their Mathare Valley through this book. Each was able to express him or herself in complete freedom, bear witness to the living conditions in the slum where they grew up, and recount and shed light on the reality of everyday life. Photography is used here as a mirror of the world, an artistic language, a means of learning how to live in a community and a way of gaining professional experience. With this delicate blend of tenderness and realism, Mwelu offers us a hundred testimonies to his mission as an artist and an educator as well as the remarkable work of these image and dream hunters. The photobook also includes a poetic text full of imagery written by Billy Kahora. Journalist, author, scriptwriter, he is part of a new generation of African writers, born after independence. Billy currently lives and works in Nairobi : «This book is Nairobi neo-realism writ large. Mathare s life-subjects, character(ed) in function, framed mostly in work/activity/opportunity. [ ] Assess na macho (Just look quickly) do not stand by the bridge too long and stare if you are a visitor. Or you ll have to pay. Utatu-sort. Instead, watch the Nairobi River battle the valley. Wind its way through the consumed detritus. Mkokotenis (Push cart / hand cart) deliver fashion. Moving gikombas (a local flea market). [ ]All these are all of Mwelu Foundation s visual narratives of its home-valley. In this book, away from our media and developmentsimulated images of the signifier we ve come to imagine as Mathare, the latter is refreshed.» 3

4 About the Mwelu Foundation The Mwelu Foundation is a youth project based in Mathare Valley, an informal settlement in Nairobi. Its founder, Julius Mwelu initiates and trains some 40 youngsters to photography and ensures that they remain in school and attend classes regularly. These children and teenagers use photography and film production to document their lives and communicate their challenges and their hopes to the wider world. The Foundation has also set up a library and a workspace where the kids can do their homework. The Mwelu Foundation is taking positive steps to improve their livelihoods by building essential life skills. Through their initiatives, the Foundation hopes it can begin to displace the myth that slums like Mathare are dead-end places with no potential or home-grown talent. Technical data The edition is in 3 languages: French, Dutch and English Format: 24,5 x 23,5 cm Semi-hard cover, with jacket and varnished cover photo Colour printing Matte paper 150 gr Number of pages: 144 p. Price: 29,00 ISBN : Publishers: Africalia asbl/vzw and Stichting Kunstboek Printing: PurePrint Grafic design: raf-thienpont.be Date of publication: 2014 Partners 4

5 The collection AFRICALIA EDITIONS [photo] Photography has overflown Africa s history, without really ever putting its foot down in the imagination of creators in the continent. This collection has the ambition to fill a void by unveiling the œuvre of contemporary photographers from Africa. SAMMY BALOJI Mémoire /Kolwezi (RDC) Monograph by Congolese photographer Sammy Baloji Africalia Editions [photo] & Stichting Kunstboek 2014 Price 39, 139p. CALVIN DONDO Hodhii Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe) Monograph by Zimbabwean photographer Calvin Dondo Africalia Editions [photo] & Stichting Kunstboek 2014 Price 35, 120p. JULIUS MWELU & THE MWELU FOUNDATION / Nairobi (Kenya) Book with photos by Julius Mwelu and members of the Mwelu Foundation Africalia Editions [photo] & Stichting Kunstboek 2014 Price 29, 144p. GRASSROOTS UPGRADED Reflections on Nairobi Eastlands (Kenya) Book with photos taken by the members of the organisation Slum-TV Africalia Editions [photo], Goethe-Institut Nairobi & Stichting Kunstboek 2011 Price 29, 152p. AÏDA MULUNEH - Ethiopia: past/forward (Ethiopie) Monograph by Ethiopian photographer Aïda Muluneh Africalia Editions [photo] & Roularta Books 2009 Price 29, 143p. CONGO EZA - Photographes de RDC (RDC) 10 years of stories in more than 200 photos by 25 photographers Africalia Editions [photo] & Roularta Books 2008 Price 29, 160p. SAÏDOU DICKO - Le voleur d ombres (Burkina Faso) Monograph by Burkinabe photographer Säidou Dicko Africalia Editions [photo] & Roularta Books 2007 Price 29, 80p. 5

6 Events - 20/06/2014 BOZAR : Africalia Editions [photo] evening: book launch of Sammy Baloji, Calvin Dondo and the Mwelu Foundation s photo books, in partnership with BOZAR and Spiegelprijs, in the framework of the Summer of Photography in Brussels /10/2014 Frankfurt Book Fair. - November 2014 Boekenbeurs Antwerpen. About Africalia Art and culture are essential elements in a sustainable human development process. Africalia, largely supported by the Belgian Development Cooperation, is running result-based programmes conceived in collaboration with its partners in Africa. This philosophy is in line with: the Cotonou Agreement; the UNESCO Convention on cultural diversity; the Millennium Development Goals; and the Paris Declaration on aid efficiency. Culture is intimately linked with creativity; it stimulates intercultural dialogue and increases positive identity awareness. Culture also represents market potential and educational value, so it can play a considerable part in the fight against poverty. Moreover, culture acts on behavioural change. Through its threeyear programmes, Africalia supports professional organizations and networks in Africa that contribute to the flourishing of artists, that in turn play their social and societal role in strengthening democracies. Africalia supports professional organisations and networks in seven African countries: South Africa, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Kenya, DRC, Senegal and Zimbabwe. Contact Audrey Brisack Communication & Fundraising audrey.brisack@africalia.be Tel : Fax : Gsm : asbl Africalia vzw Rue du Congrès 13 Congresstraat, 1000 Brussels africalia@africalia.be Tel: Fax:

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