This epic collection is a one-day digital snapshot of the entire African continent. One hundred of the world's top photojournalists, including James Nachtwey and Sebastio Salgado, trek to 53 nations shooting 250 striking images from Cairo to the Cape of Good Hope. Photographs ranging from Namibia's San bushmen to the hip Lagos music scene capture a rich tapestry of African life lived on a single day.
For 24 hours on February 28, 2002, 100 of the world’s best photojournalists crossed Africa “to capture images that celebrate a vast, vibrant continent in transition.” The images are beautiful and moving of a continent of 53 countries, almost a billion people, and more than 800 ethnic groups. It was a day of discovery, diversity, challenges, beauty, spirit, resilience, and uniqueness in photographing the landscape, people, and conditions of this African motherland. Only Libya denied them entry.
The group was from 26 countries of which 20 were African and African-American and included over “a dozen Pulitzer Prize and World Press Photo winners.” This was the first book in the Day in the Life series to use digital photography and for some this was the first time that they had used a digital camera - an Olympus digital camera. I loved that a map featured the locations of the images.
I learned of Kenyan Running Champion Kip Keino’s adoption of over 100 orphaned or abandoned children, his farms where he raised them, and the Kip Keino schools to educate them and others. Old vehicle tires were used as floating laundry tables in the Côte d’Ivorie and as shoes in Ghana. I was touched by a mother’s joyful and surprised reunion with her seven-year-old son, who had been a child soldier after being kidnaped in Sierra Leone.
The proceeds of the book went “to fund AIDS education in Africa.” At the time more than 12 million Africans had died of AIDS and an estimated 25 million had been infected. Black and white pictures depicted Zambia’s ravages of the AIDS pandemic, where 1 in 5 were dying from it. This book is a remarkable achievement and wonderful tribute for everyone involved in this worthy cause.
The really cool thing about this book is its breadth -- it doesn't pretend to be a complete look at the continent of Africa, or any country within, but the photographs manage to convey some of the similarities and differences throughout. The Rwandan bush is densely, wetly forested; on the next spread, the Chad bush is dry and dusty. Snowy mountains high up in Morocco; camel-thorn trees in Namibia; incredible stretches of desert in Mauritania.
None of these photos is intended to provide a comprehensive look, but they give enough of a look to get a sense of the continent's vast diversity and cultures. Credit also to the book's producers for making their point about AIDS in a compassionate and restrained manner.