In the fifth volume from the Ebifananyi series, Andrea Stultiens delves into the archive of M.W. Wambwa, an engineer and amateur photographer from a small community in eastern Uganda. Just before Stultiens met him, Wambwa had decided to burn all his negatives. Luckily, the slides made in the early sixties survived. These slides form the basis of Picha 5, along with selected fragments from the manuscript of Wambwa’s memoirs. They show a colourful life and the world around the Ugandan cities Mbale and Kampala. A world where roads and buildings are constructed and independence is celebrated.

In addition to and inspired by Wambwa’s images, three contemporary photographers of different nationalities captured the same region. Rumazi Canon (UG) shot ‘holes in the world’. Elsadig Mohamed (SD) shifted his focus. Luuk van den Berg (NL) used expired black and white film to explore his new territory.

Picha is the Swahili word for pictures and the fifth publication in the Ebifananyi series. Ebifananyi is the overall book series title, which will eventually comprise eight books and is jointly published by History In Progress Uganda (HIPUganda) and Paradox. Each book starts from a photo collection in Uganda and explores the narrative possibilities in images, with supporting text. Ebifananyi attempts to provide a nuanced understanding of the history of Uganda. You can order the five existing publications on YdocStore.

In 2017, Paradox wil launch an installation of archival & contemporary printscombined with movie clips in FoMu Antwerp. Read more about Ebifananyi and Andrea Stultiens.