The normative image of Africa in media has always been a crooked image of African reality, children carrying guns, people starving and dying of unusual diseases. To educate the world and build an accurate image of the continent labelled as the “Dark continent”, photojournalist Peter DiCampo and Austin Merrill created Everyday Africa. It is a photography project showcased on social media as a response to existing stereotypes. Everyday Africa has now been compiled into a book featuring 30 contributing photographers from Africa and other parts of the world.
With an understanding that the media remains one of the most influential idea transmitters globally, DiCompo and Merrill established Everyday Africa in 2012. They aimed to tell everyday African stories often ignored by mainstream media.
Everyday Africa has evolved and moved from one online space to another. It started on Tumblr showcasing images of various projects. It then moved to Instagram where it now has over 300 000 followers and is simultaneously shared on Facebook.The new photo book features 250 photographs by 30 contributing photographers.
It is expected to launch in December 2016 at the AddisFotoFest in Ethiopia. The work will replace images of shanty towns with images of beautiful African cultural houses, shots of flies sticking on eyeballs will be replaced with smiles and laughter.
