Interview with Koyo Kouoh of Zeitz MOCAA

Three iPhone portraits of Koyo Kouoh, director of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art in Cape Town, “Africa’s answer to the Tate Modern”.

“In the 1990s, I belonged to a generation of curators who wanted to tell stories through group exhibitions. But in these exhibitions, transgenerational connections between artists and movements were often not emphasized.

While it is so necessary to show that we have had so many important African artists for such a long time. They also influence and inspire new generations. As a Pan-African museum it is important to keep this in mind.”

Read the whole interview here.

Interview: how Vanessa Nakate fights for 'climate justice'

Although Africa is only minimally responsible for global warming, the continent is disproportionately affected by the climate crisis, says Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate (25). As Europe is looking for oil and gas in Africa, African leaders have a major asset in hand, she says.

“They have to ask themselves: If I let the Germans drill for gas in my country, what does that mean for the people who live in my country?”

Read my interview with Nakate here in Dutch, on the website of De Volkskrant.

New work voor de Volkskrant: an interview with Arie Kievit about mica mines in Madagascar

In southern Madagascar, children get mica from handmade mines, photographer Arie Kievit saw when he was there with children’s rights NGO Terre des Homes. Plate mica as a raw material is indispensable for our cars and electrical appliances. I interviewed Kievit for today’s edition of De Volkskrant.

My last piece for Trouw: an interview with 'starchitect' Diébédo Francis Kéré

On Friday, Burkinabé architect Diébédo Francis Kéré will receive the profession’s highest honour, the Pritzker Prize. In my last piece for Dutch daily Trouw, I interviewed Kéré about his work, inspiration, using locally available materials and his quest to inspire young Africans to build their continent.

To read the interview, click here or buy a copy of today’s newspaper!

New work: a profile of Tanzanian fashion designer Makeke

“I have always been fascinated by the African way of life. I dreamed at night about how it used to be, about life in the village. That 'African way of life' is my greatest source of inspiration. I go to sleep with it and wake up with it. My friends only look at America. What is Drake doing, what clothes is Kanye West wearing.. But if you ask me, they all look alike. My work is a counter-reaction to the visual violence thrown over us from the West.”

For Dutch daily Trouw, I interviewed Tanzanian fashion designer Jocktan Cosmas Malule, in Dar Es Salaam better known as ‘Makeke’. To read the full piece (in Dutch), click here. To read the Spanish version of the profile that has been published by El País, click here.

Radio interview: live in NPO Radio 1's 'De Wereld van BNNVARA'

Radio host Stephan Komduur invited me to be his guest on De Wereld van BNNVARA radio programme, which was aired last Sunday evening from 8pm to 10pm. During the first hour, we touched on several subjects, one of them being my trip to Saint-Louis earlier this year. If you understand Dutch, you can check out a visual radio fragment below.

Talkshow: Stichting Vluchteling webcast

In ‘Crisis Update’, a webcast by refugee organization Stichting Vluchteling that focuses on the conflict in Tigray, I spoke about our trip to the refugee camps in Eastern Sudan. In conversation with Dutch presenter Hadassah de Boer, I shared some insights on what it was like to work there. Check out the whole interview below.

Corona in Kenya: why Nairobi is in lockdown once again

Many countries are gradually relaxing their COVID19 measures as vaccins are rolled out. But even as the first Kenyans are receiving ‘the jab’, president Kenyatta announced tighter corona measures to control a third wave. What’s going on in Kenya? I talked about this with NPO Radio 1 host Stephan Komduur in BNNVARA’s foreign news programme ‘De Wereld van BNNVARA’. You can check out the 18 minute conversation by clicking on this link.

Samsam & Media: Simantoi (9) loves to listen to the radio

For the newest edition of Samsam Magazine, I interviewed Simantoi (9) from Maralal! As this edition’s theme of the magazine for schoolchildren in The Netherlands is ‘Media’, I asked Simantoi how she knows what’s going on in the world. She told me that because she is from Samburu, a region in Kenya, that she listens to radio a lot. Not only because they play songs in ‘Maa’, the language of her grandparents, but also because she likes to listen to radioshows about Samburu’s mythology.

“My favorite radio station is Serian FM,” Simantoi says. “They broadcast a lot of nice programmes, so I listen to them at least for an hour each day.” On Saturdays, the radio station makes a programma that like children’s magazine Samsam, is only meant for children. Children even come to the studio, which sits on one of Maralal’s hills. Together with Simantoi, I traveled to see Joseph and Nick, who explained us a bit more about the importance of radio in Samburu.

To read the whole piece (in Dutch), enlarge the picture below or follow this link to Samsam’s website.

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Interview 'De Buitenlandredactie': life as an Africa Correspondent

For foreign news journalism platform De Buitenlandredactie, Saskia Houttuin and I were interviewed about covering news events (like the elections in Ivory Coast) in Africa.

“During the elections in America you can see that just about any former America correspondent is traveling across the US once more, to make special reports or programmes there. So there are many possibilities to make some good, substantive and in-depth stories there. Why isn't that happening in Africa?

This year there are no fewer than thirteen African countries that hold elections, but in my opinion you read far too little about them in the Dutch media. What is happening in African countries at this moment is incredibly important for the future of a European country like the Netherlands.”

Read the whole interview here.

Challenge Your Professional Life: new work for MENDO & Rebel Group

Occasionally, photography book publisher MENDO also creates books for corporate agencies as Rebel Group. Rebel, a consulting firm that is based in Amsterdam (but also has offices in major world cities like Nairobi), asked MENDO to create a book about their view on the world.

For ‘Challenge Your Professional Life’ I extensively interviewed sixteen Rebel Group employees about their past and their out-of-the-box ideas, but I especially wanted to initiate a conversation about their ‘rebellious’ perspective on the world and their role in it.

The results are now visible in their coffee table table book, which can be bought through MENDO’s award-winning web store. To read more about the book, check out this interview with Rebel’s Lenny van Klink and Wout Korving.

Interview about my photo series on Covid19 in Bergen, The Netherlands

Local newspaper Contact met de Egmonden interviewed me about one of my most recent photography series on the impact on in Bergen. In the Dutch coastal municipality that consists of Schoorl, Egmond-Binnen, Egmond aan den Hoef, Egmond aan Zee and Bergen and Bergen aan Zee, I tried to visually capture the impact of the pandemic on daily life. Parts of the series has previously been published by local, regional and national news media.

Read more: Care 4 Corona photo awards: my photo is a week finalist
Read more: New Liberation Day work for newspaper De Telegraaf

COVID19 in Tanzania: New work for The New Humanitarian

Together with Africa correspondent Saskia Houttuin, I wrote a piece about the worrisome COVID19 situation in Tanzania. The Tanzanian government’s tepid response to COVID-19 and seeming lack of transparency over coronavirus cases is fuelling concern that it is covering up the true extent of the pandemic, according to five doctors and health experts in the East African country.

You can read the text by following this link.

Update: RTL Nieuws published an updated Dutch version of our The New Humanitarian piece.