MY NAME IS NO-BODY
Labels of Tervuren, Absolute designations & radical otherness
How can the colonial photo archive help us understand the persistence of ethno-racial stereotypes?
With the project MY NAME IS NO-BODY, Teddy Mazina takes a critical look at the photographic archives and their labels, the bias of the shots taken during the various photographic missions in Congo, Ruanda-Urundi, the language, the choice of words in their descriptions and their destinations.
Teddy Mazina questions colonial photographic representations of Africa, Africans and non-Europeans, such as the depiction of absolute differences, of radical otherness, of incomplete beings, of bodies without subjects, of ‘impossible subjectifications’. Beings who are necessarily deprived of something, and repeatedly so in labels: NAMES.
MY NAME IS NO-BODY is a video projection of a selection of labels and images from the AfricaMuseum’s colonial photo library. Scientists from the museum present the history and motivations behind colonial photo missions, the fascination with certain subjects and population groups, and the reasons for the recurring and often total absence of the names of those photographed.
Warning
The museum is aware that the images and words used in this exhibition may be shocking or offensive.
Their choice forms part of the approach by artist Teddy Mazina and his work on the deconstruction of stereotypes found in the discourse of the colonial-era photo archive.
These images and words in no way represent the current perspective of the AfricaMuseum.
Your reactions: teddy.mazina@gmail.com
€ 5
Questions: teddy.mazina@gmail.com