The works presented in Multiple Gazes of a Country’s Photographed Past are based on the photo material kept in the Press Photo Archives Buea (PPAB), Cameroon, and emerge from an online call to use historical photographs as a starting point for artistic interventions. 27 artists from 17 countries have submitted their artistic reinterpretations and exploration of a small sample of photographs from the Archives. The results of their dealing with historical material, the confrontation of document and art work, the merger of past and present, reveal the great, at times disturbing potential of artistic engagements with archive material.
Between 2013 and 2015, African Photography Initiatives has been working in the PPAB, Cameroon, a state-owned institution under the authority of the Ministry of Communication. Over 40’000 negatives were digitized. The digital conservation was supplemented by physical conservation and protection measures.
