A self-analysis of my book Postcards from Zambia.

First, let us make no bones about it, photographs from page 80 to 93 are purely aesthetic photographs, for tourists and animal lovers. I do not delude myself that they contribute to the photography canon anything very much in particular. But my name is not Walker Evans and Peter Langmead is not going to entice critical photographic comment from the great critics of the world, if any remain.

However,  now let us look at some of the other photographs. Subjects eyeballing the camera are generally associated with advertising photographs that emphasise high lifestyle and luxury that belong to the reader by postmodern right, according to Baudrillard. I think he is right and it is easy to see what my subjects are advertising, freedom from western simulacra and real standards of living in rural Zambia! Well, some have complained about this, portraits looking at the camera, almost with the sfumato of Leonardo da Vinci, eyes questioning the reader.

The better educated would reflect on the 'gaze', or rather the so-called averted gaze of the oppressed that is of course naturally, or not so naturally, extended to colonialism and feminism. I am sikisty, 60, and I have indeed seen averted gaze, most usually in deference to chiefs, politicians and tyrannical thugs, but nothing now to do with colonialism. This is not surprising today, since the colonial era was way before nearly all post-colonialists were born, even if the academics who continue to rant about such things are still supported by Western universities and remain comfortably a long way from their often still tyrannical homelands. While Africa continues to blame the colonial West for all its ills, colonialism itself has been superseded by  globalisation and neo-imperialism, by everyone else in the world: the Chinese build roads and are looking very colonial in their settling habits, remembering that colonialism is state-sponsored settlement in foreign countries. Anyway, despite all this, the fact is that Zambians look to me to be far from oppressed and the state of their country cannot really be blamed on anyone else any more.

The book is social documentary. David Bate puts it so well when he says in his book Photography, The Key Concepts, documentary 'constructs a victim for its always privileged audience in terms of class, ethnicity, gender or other social category, [...] and the dignity of the subject [...] is not guaranteed by any particular viewer'. This continues to be true: the big camera nearly always has a neo-imperialist or tourist at the controls, capturing images of reportedly suffering poverty stricken Zambians, and then the pictures vanish off to the neo-imperialist state, the home of the photographer, where they may be used for erroneous decision-making about aid and development funding, or published out of context in newspapers.

What Bate does not mention is that this is actually Foucault's panopticism: the victim never gets to see his photograph just as the prisoner does not see his guard. As well-meaning as selling the book in Zambia may be, Zambians do not have to buy it, so may be the prisoner does not want to see his guard. Now the irrelevant question is, why should he? If you have problems with Documentary Photography because of this tarred brush, you can do Street Photography, which is the same thing but without the discipline of the narrative that so offends post-moderns. Or can we just refer to it as opportunist photography, 'snapping' in the vernacular?

Martin Parr said he did not like smiles. I took his advice in some cases because big ones are indeed exhausting on the wall. Some are wide-angle shots, which means the photographer is unavoidable close to the subject, so the subject cannot possibly miss the photographer taking the photograph, unless of course the subject is asked to ignore the photographer. I do not approve of this strategy; it is in my view posed and fake. I prefer the captured bemused smile, almost Mona Lisa; it is more honest and genuine.

While the documentary may be scowled at by postmodern academia and practitioners, it would be a great shame if the social history of nations is not recorded because of the dysfunctional philosophy of a predominantly European privileged few - let us say positively rich and more than three standard deviations above the global mean - that was determined over the rims of too many cups of Fairtrade coffee.

My First Review of Postcards from Zambia

On Saturday 16 March, I received the first review of my book Postcards from Zambia in The Post, Zambia. This was by Andrew Mulenga, a leading and well-respected Arts critic in the region, and an award winner. In short I am not going to make any comments at all! You can buy the book at www.amazon.co.uk/dp/9982896024, or you can see the photographs at www.peterlangmead.com/postcards/slideshow.html

Amatheon Agro

Here I am videoing at Amatheon Agro in the Big Concession, near Kaindu, standing in soybean with Kalenga. We were there for two days for the company's CSR programme. It is a very impressive investment.

Book signing, 9 March 2013

And here I am surrounded by my collateral, open on time. I admit I was not mowed down by roaring hoards. The most misleading statistic I can offer is I sold a book to 30 per cent of people who came into the shop - I know this kind of statistic from working with donors. The truth was there were only ten customers in the shop in two hours. So, Planet Books Lusaka is hardly Waterstones, London. Never mind. 

In blinding hindsight, something too many suffer from, Women's Day ensured press release failure in all papers, despite World Book Day, which only Luchi at Phoenix Radio had recognised, and the holiday on Friday ensured most moneyed Zambians had decamped to rural family homes.

While I am here, I do have a comment about pictures generally. Personally, I am impressed by big pictures, and the pictures you can see above are A0, 1189 by 841 mm. It seemed to me, people avoided looking at them. Some say that the public suffer from advertising overload from hoarding boards. This is a pity, their homes must be horribly bleak. There was a stunning statistic the other day, 62 (? correct me) per cent of degree holders never read another book after leaving university. I suppose the only colour in their lives is the television, which represents a simulacrum of mostly nonsense.

Press release, 5 March 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WITH PICTURES

NEW BOOK SHOWCASES ESSENCE OF LIFE IN ZAMBIA

Photography volume would make ideal platform to highlight the nation to UNWTO

LUSAKA, ZAMBIA - March 5, 2013 – Scenes from everyday life throughout Zambia are the subject of a new book of documentary photographs published this week.

Postcards from Zambia aims to showcase the nation in a positive light, highlighting people and society from all corners of the country – from Mansa to Livingstone, and from Mumbwa to Chipata.

“Zambia is a rich and vibrant country, full of strong and amazing people going about their everyday lives,” explained the book’s author, Peter Langmead. “My aim was to capture that essence of the heart of Zambia, for two reasons: firstly to counter the West’s all-too-often negative view of Africa, and secondly to try to provide a benchmark for recording society for the benefit of Zambia.”

The 95-page book features 77 stunning photographs taken by Dr Langmead during his travels around Zambia and reflecting almost 40 years working as a development consultant.

The book also features an introduction that explores the parallels between the history of Zambia and that of photography, which share some intriguing milestones.

The camera first arrived in what is now called Zambia with David Livingstone’s expedition of 1858-64, and Victoria Falls was first photographed in 1892. When Zambia achieved Independence in 1964, the world was beginning to develop colour photography.

Dr Langmead hopes the book will inspire a new generation of budding Zambian photographers to take up documentary photography and ensure that the life of the country is chronicled for posterity.

In addition to targeting a local readership, Postcards from Zambia also provides a snapshot of life in Zambia for those less familiar with the country, whether tourists, business visitors or overseas observers. As such, it makes an ideal platform to showcase the country for the United Nation World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) General Assembly in August.

Dr Langmead will be signing Postcards from Zambia at Planet Books, Arcades Shopping Mall, Lusaka, from 10hrs to 12hrs on Saturday, March 9.

The book is available from the main bookshops throughout the country, and in the UK through www.amazon.co.uk.

The images are also being toured as an exhibition, and can be viewed at www.peterlangmead.com, and on Facebook.

Postcards from Zambia is published by Langmead & Baker Ltd. ISBN 978-9982-896-02-3. Price: KR100.

--Ends--

For more information please contact:

Gillian Langmead, Langmead & Baker
Cell: +260 (979) 060705; info@langmead.com

Radio interview and Facebook page

I was interviewed by Luchi at Radio Phoenix at midday on 7 March 2013 about Postcards from Zambia having just made it back through the pre-holiday traffic jams in Lusaka after filming in the Big Concession near Mumbwa. You can listen to the recording here. Meanwhile, this picture from the book was taken in Mumbwa.

 The Facebook page for Postcards from Zambia is here.