The African Lookbook: A Visual History of 100 Years of African Women
Catherine E. McKinley
Bloomsbury
English
Text by Edwidge Danticat
Foreword by Jacqueline Woodson
Hardcover
240 pages
220 x 170 mm
2021
ISBN 9781620403532
An unprecedented visual history of African women told in striking and subversive historical photographs – featuring an Introduction by Edwidge Danticat and a Foreword by Jacqueline Woodson.
Most of us grew up with images of African women that were purely anthropological –bright displays of exotica where the deeper personhood seemed tucked away. Or they were chronicles of war and poverty – “poverty porn.” But now, curator Catherine E. McKinley draws on her extensive collection of historical and contemporary photos to present a visual history spanning a hundred-year arc (1870–1970) of what is among the earliest photography on the continent. These images tell a different story of African women: how deeply cosmopolitan and modern they are in their style; how they were able to reclaim the tools of the colonial oppression that threatened their selfhood and livelihoods.
Featuring works by celebrated African masters, African studios of local legend, and anonymous artists, The African Lookbook captures the dignity, playfulness, austerity, grandeur, and fantasy-making of African women across centuries. McKinley also features photos by Europeans – most starkly, striking nudes – revealing the relationships between white men and the Black female sitters where, at best, a grave power imbalance lies. It’s a bittersweet truth that when there is exploitation there can also be profound resistance expressed in unexpected ways – even if it’s only in gazing back. These photos tell the story of how the sewing machine and the camera became powerful tools for women’s self-expression, revealing a truly glorious display of everyday beauty.
(source: https://www.thelibraryproject.ie/products/the-african-lookbook-a-visual-history-of-100-years-of-african-women?_pos=1&_sid=f3659cb53&_ss=r)
About the Artist
Catherine E. McKinley is a curator and writer whose books include the critically acclaimed Indigo, a journey along the ancient indigo trade routes in West Africa, and The Book of Sarahs, a memoir about growing up Black and Jewish in the 1960s–80s. She’s taught creative nonfiction writing at Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia University. The McKinley Collection, featured here, is a personal archive representing African photographies from 1870 to the present. She lives in New York City.
(source: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/author/catherine-e-mckinley/)
About the Publisher
Established in 1998 and located in midtown Manhattan, Bloomsbury USA is a general interest publisher of adult and children’s books which has become known for both its high quality fiction and non-fiction for adults and children as well as its extensive Academic publishing from the world’s most recognized experts.
bloomsbury.com
(source: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/connect/about-us/overview/#)
