Grassroots Upgraded: Reflections on Nairobi Eastlands

This book, the first in a series called Africalia Editions [photo] aims to fill a void in the history of photography, by unveiling the oeuvre of contemporary photographers from Africa. For Grassroots Upgraded, twenty members of the collective 'Slum-TV' have chosen the LOMO camera as a medium of self-representation. The project is not a development project but rather takes an ironic perspective on the developing world, a position which is reflected in the title of the book and the politically incorrect name of the collective. The approach is conceptual and political, the choice of medium an aesthetic one. The LOMO camera is taken as anarchic medium, based on chance, involving imperfection and often producing a blurred aesthetic. With these images Slum-TV goes beyond the stereotypes which have been shaping the Afric of our imagination. AUTHOR: Slum-TV is an African artists' collective based in Mathare, in a so-called informal settlement at the heart of the city of Nairobi. ILLUSTRATIONS: 150 colour