From fashion advertisements to travel campaigns, not excluding the movie industry, the Euro-American depiction of Africa is endless and boundless. Far from the real, the tendency is to romanticize the land and its inhabitants, illustrating to the world those image(s) that satisfy the advertiser’s imaginative fantasies.
An exotic fantasy, larger than life, but empty inside. A classic-redundant style that is worn-out for the obvious.
As the fashion industry seeks to (re)create its exotic perceptions of the continent, advertisement campaigns often appear like the Eurocentric-model’s playground “on which the Euro-American self may, uninhibitedly, further its ego and subjectivity.” Similar to our previous feature on photographer Mehdi Serioui’s work, confronting “what it means to be black, alongside white[ness]” in the fashion world, here is yet another compelling story confronting the fashion and advertisement industry’s relationship with Africa and African models.
Read Africasacountry’s take on this story.
Image Source.