A social network platform like Instagram, with its user base and per-follower engagement rate rapidly growing, has become an influential medium to shift mainstream popular narratives. Ever more, a new generation of Africans –especially with the increasing affordability of cameras and improvements in smartphone lenses –-are taking advantage of this photographic medium.
Several African Instagrammers tend to weave commanding stories and depict the beauty and rawness around them, illustrating to the world ‘their’ Africa through ‘their’ lens. Taking lead on this golden opportunity to image and tell the African story from the African perspective, it seems, they are reversing the lack of visibility and undoing the old relic –the single story and dangerously monotone styled representation of Africa. Using distinctive visual language –-African photographers and non-photographers —showcase their work and share “their Africa” to a global audience.
Here are some of our favorite Instagram accounts that share the continent’s quintessential dynamism, vibrancy, and unpredictability –-no less, the unparalleled beauty and aliveness of daily life in Africa.
Joe Were | @jaydabliu
Joe Were is a photographer based in Nairobi, Kenya. His wide-ranging work, through his compelling visual language, takes us on journey through the landscape and culturally diverse Africa. He unveils the beauty of the African terrain as well as document everyday African people stories in a profound yet graceful and dignified form.
Andrew Esiebo | @andrewesiebo
Andrew Esiebo is a Nigerian photographer who started his career as a freelance photographer and is now exploring video and multimedia work. Covering personal projects and assignments on primarily Nigeria and West Africa, his work has covered urban Nigeria and various social issues, tellingly.
Esther Nsapu | @ESTHER_NSAPU
Esther Nsapu is a Rwandese journalist based in Goma, DRC. As a reporter, her coverage of mobile courts and local cell phone charging solutions were voted among the Best of 2015. Her photographs vividly take us in and around the street culture of various African cities.
Girma Berta | @GBOXCREATIVE
Ethiopian graphic designer Girma Berta is known for capturing distinctive and bold stories of Ethiopia’s capital city Addis Ababa, its people and street culture.
Ikram A. Isse | @IKRAMISSE
Ikram Isse is a Somali born in Toronto, Canada. Currently residing in Somalia, she hopes to share her experiences through photographs: with her fellow people, those who would like to visit Somalia, and even those that may have a negative image of her “beloved country”. Through her visual storytelling, she would like to give people “hope and change, both heart and mind”.
Nasrin Suleiman | @NAZYXO
A graphic designer with a passion for photography, Nasrin Suleiman’s account presents a striking visual commentary of an exquisite island – Zanzibar.
Mohamed Osam | @mohaosam
Mohamed Osam is a photographer based in Cairo, Egypt. Osam’s passion for photography started when he was15 years old. Currently, he works as a documentary photographer. He is a founder and contributor on an Instagram project called “Everyday Cairo.”
Kai Bakano | @kaibakano
A storyteller with a keen lens, Kai Bakano documents vibrant visual stories from and around Nigeria, with a strong focus on narratives that reflect the cultural beauty of Kano state in Northern Nigeria.
