Dar Foto Festival - Pop Up Präsentation

In the organizer's words:

The annual Dar Foto Festival has developed into one of the most interesting art events in Tanzania in recent years.

Festival founder Andrew Stephen Munuwa and co-founder Valentin Rudloff aim to build an inclusive and inspiring community around photography through exhibitions, artist dialogues and photography courses. The last edition of the festival took place at the renowned DARCH - Dar es Salaam Centre for Architectural Heritage and presented works by well-known Tanzanian photographers and emerging artists. In its pop-up presentation at the Humboldt Forum, the festival focuses on the theme of "coexistence" to address issues of historical memory, diversity and identity in contemporary Tanzania.

Curated by

Andrew Stephen Munuwa is a freelance photographer and curator from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. His photographic focus is on everyday African urban life in relation to spaces and contemporary cultures. He founded the Dar Foto Festival in 2020 and currently serves as Creative Director.

Valentin Rudloff works as a photographer and curator between Berlin and Dar es Salaam. Since 2023 he is the co-founder of Dar Foto Festival, Tanzania's largest festival for photography. In his own photographic work, he focuses on the effects of climate change and globalization on society and the environment.

Participating artists

Mervki Republic is a multidisciplinary collective from Dar es Salaam working in the fields of fashion, photography and visual arts. Since 2021, the ten-member collective has been working at the boundaries of street culture and haute couture, politically charged identity discourses and exuberant self-expression. In their fashion collections, they combine traditional craft techniques and materials with symbolic fashion gadgets. They often place their creations in historically charged locations or in modern architectural ruins on the outskirts of the metropolis of Dar es Salaam.

Natalia Eric Musungu is a photographer who captures the pulse of daily life in her community and beyond. She moves through the streets of Dar es Salaam and documents socio-political issues and changes in a poetic way. In her current work, she explores the traces of Dar es Salaam's historical urban segregation, which she juxtaposes with contemporary street life.

Sam Vox is a visual storyteller who explores environmental, social and cultural issues. Sam's identity has been shaped by the rich cultural communities along the Swahili Coast, which is also reflected in his photography. "Kofia Diaries" is an ongoing exploration of heritage, longing and belonging through images and text. The kofia, a traditional headdress with deep roots in Swahili culture, is a powerful symbol of identity and unity. His serial portraits express a sense of pride in this tradition, which is inscribed in contemporary everyday culture.

Eric Lugakingira lives and works in Jambiani, Zanzibar, where he runs a studio and his own gallery. Lugakingira's experimental photographic works straddle the boundaries between documentation, fine art, performance and installation. He often combines found materials for photography and alienates them in elaborate post-production processes. For his P.L.A.S.T.I.C. project, he created large-scale installations from waste material and created abstract structures that are charged with symbols of spirituality and belonging.

Vanessa Mwingira 's photographic practice is dedicated to the representation of Black people and PoCs. With her project "PunkandBlack", she offers a space in which people can relate to each other and experience Blackness beyond Western standards of beauty. Her project "Huyu ni Mimi" ("This is me") is a compilation of photographs that capture individuality and freedom of self-expression and celebrate diversity and coexistence in the urban society of Dar es Salaam.

Other participants

Mulki Longo (Dar Foto Festival Team), Joshua Msambila (Dar Foto Festival Team), Dr. Sarah L. Smiley (Researcher, Mental Maps), Angela G. Subulwa (Researcher, Map of Dar es Salaam).

Further information

- free of charge

- from 6 years

- Room 2, ground floor

- Belongs to: History(ies) of Tanzania