Canon

For the book Canon, Wohnseifer has selected those books, especially photo volumes, from his library that are thematically related to Africa. Originally conceived as a photographic series of the same name for an exhibition at Johann König in Berlin, the work undergoes considerable expansion in book form and thus finds its final form. The books are presented in chronological order and span a period of over sixty years (1948 – 2011). The collection of books poses questions about the colonial gaze and the extent to which it is inscribed in the medium of photography itself. A panorama is sketched that maps the changes in the photographic representation of Africa from the postwar period to the present. Each book is presented with the cover design and two double-page spreads from the interior. In all, the selection includes 41 books by Jean Rouch, Ed van der Elsken, Robert Lebeck, Gilles Peress, Malick Sidibé, Seydou Keita, David Goldblatt, Pieter Hugo, Viviane Sassen, and many others…