Design Indaba alum, renowned creative director and founder of Mami Wata Surf, Peet Pienaar’s latest creation is Afrosport – a new book that explores the visual culture of African sports.
Afrosport shines a light on Africa’s history and future global influence through the intersecting lenses of sport, photography, design and culture. Its release coincided with the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) which saw host nation Ivory Coast taking home the trophy and South Africa’s Bafana Bafana earning third place.
A follow up to Afrosurf, the first book chronicling surf culture in Africa, this hard-cover, 320-page book contains the work of a vast array of contributors including 25 writers and 40 photographers, and features 32 sports, 130 photos and more than 100 original graphics. Each visual presentation is accompanied by an in-depth analysis of sports on the continent.
Sports surveyed in the monumental book include world favourites like football, basketball and boxing, and lesser-known ones like the BMX scene in Ghana, the DStv Diski Challenge in South Africa, and ram fighting in Nigeria. Football, a major nation-building sport in Africa, stands out as a major feature with entire pages dedicated to the logos of different football clubs which, according to Piernaar ‘serve as a narrative of cultural heritage and collective identity’.
*The views of the above article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Africa Speaks 4 Africa or its editorial team.