Joana Choumali Explained

Joana Choumali
Birth Name:Joana Choumali
Birth Place:Abidjan
Nationality:Ivory Coast
Field:Photography
Awards:Fourthwall Book Award, Contemporary African Photography Prize

Joana Choumali (born 1974) is a freelance photographer based in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.[1] [2] She uses photography to explore issues of identity and the diversity of African cultures.[3]

Her 2014 series, Hââbré, The Last Generation, documents the last generation of scarified Africans.[4]

In 2019, she was awarded the Prix Pictet for her series Ça va aller (It will be OK).

Life and work

Choumali was born and raised in Abidjan. After attending local international schools, she studied Graphic Arts in Casablanca and worked as an art director in an advertising agency before starting her photography career. Her style includes conceptual portraiture, mixed media and documentary. Much of her work focuses on Africa, her assumptions about the diversity of cultures around her, and her expanding conceptions of the world.[3]

As a child, Choumali would travel to Adaou, a small town in the southeast, to visit her grandmother, a farmer and trader. She often felt a cultural disconnect as they did not speak the same language or share life experiences. After her grandmother died in 2001, Choumali lamented losing part of her family history and questioned her identity as an African.[5] This experience inspired her 2014 portrait series, "Resilients", which documents young, professional African women who also struggled with connecting to their family's traditional past.[6] The only requirement was that the women had to wear traditional clothing already worn by their grandmother or an older female relative, emphasizing the link between past and present.[5]

Choumali used to be fascinated seeing people of different social origins proudly displaying their facial scarification across the Ivory Coast, but the practice is dying out. Choumali's 2014 work, Hââbré, the Last Generation, documents the last generation of scarified Africans. “Hââbré” means “writing”, “sign” and “scarification”; this one word signifies all three notions in Kõ, a language from Burkina Faso. Most of the people photographed emigrated from Burkina Faso a long time ago, but the scarification reminds them of their home country and their past. The project gathers their testimonies and looks at their integration into Ivoirian society.[7]

Publications

Exhibitions

Awards

Notes and References

  1. News: Guardian Staff. 13 November 2019. Prix Pictet 2019 shortlist – photo essay. The Guardian. 5 July 2019. 0261-3077. www.theguardian.com.
  2. Web site: 3 June 2020. Photography fellow Joana Choumali explores ‘anthropology of clothing’. 31 August 2021. Harvard Gazette. en-US.
  3. News: 21 August 2018. Joana Choumali. World Press Photo. 9 July 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190709002132/https://www.worldpressphoto.org/people/joana-choumali. dead.
  4. News: 22 August 2018. PHOTOS. La scarification racontée dans le projet photographique de Joana Choumali. Le Huffington Post. 27 September 2014. 23 August 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180823042041/https://www.huffingtonpost.fr/2014/09/27/tradition-scarification-afrique-ouest-%2520projet-photographique_n_5892248.html. dead.
  5. News: Young Africans, Wrapped in Tradition. Richardson. Whitney. The New York Times. 11 March 2017. en.
  6. Web site: 22 August 2018. Joana Choumali: Giving women back their roots. CNN Style.
  7. Web site: Joana Choumali: "Hââbré, the Last Generation". 4 February 2015. The Leica Camera Blog. 11 March 2017.
  8. Web site: Photoquai 2015 - Les photographes - Joana Choumali. www.photoquai.fr. en. 11 March 2017. 4 May 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160504030115/http://www.photoquai.fr/2015/en/photographes/joana-choumalien/. dead.
  9. News: Joana Choumali Resilients - Photoluxfestival. 11 April 2016. Photoluxfestival. 11 March 2017. en-US.
  10. Web site: Joana Choumali: Hââbré. 50Golborne. 11 March 2017. 9 July 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190709002142/https://www.50golborne-artdesign.com/joana-chouamli-haabre. dead.
  11. Web site: 21 August 2018. Joana Choumali and Musa Nxumalo among the stars of the 11th Rencontres de Bamako – British Journal of Photography. British Journal of Photography.
  12. Web site: LensCulture Emerging Talents 2014. LensCulture. LensCulture. 11 March 2017.
  13. News: 22 August 2018. POPCAP 2014. CAP Prize.
  14. Web site: 22 August 2018. piclet.org Prize Africa 14. popcap14.picturk.com. 9 July 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190709002132/http://popcap14.picturk.com/pages/joana-Choumali-photographer. dead.
  15. Web site: Time Exclusive: Magnum Emergency Fund Announces 2016 Grantees. Time. 11 March 2017.
  16. News: Hââbré, The Last Generation - Fourthwall Books. Fourthwall Books. 11 March 2017. en-US.
  17. News: Sean. O’Hagan. 13 November 2019. Joana Choumali wins 2019 Prix Prictet photography prize. The Guardian. 13 November 2019. 0261-3077. www.theguardian.com.

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