PhotoCovid Zambia :

Group Project

In 2020, like the rest of the world, Zambia went into lockdown as the COVID-19 virus swept the planet.
The PhotoCovidZambia project was designed as a creative response to the pandemic and served as a space for Zambian lens-based artists to develop visual narratives that go beyond established photographic norms and conventions of how Africa is depicted during a health crisis.

The participating photographers were freelancers who found themselves in the unique position of having to pause.
Our online jour fixe once a week became a punctuation in the monotony of the lockdown. It became a space to speak about Zambian photography and its function during a pandemic.
The photographers found inspiration and a space for reflection on the role of photographing a pandemic in an African context.

PhotoCovidZambia is the only collaborative response by Zambian photographers to the pandemic.
Their photographs capture the omnipresent fear and emotional toll of the lockdown. They highlight a trans-cultural dimension and an emerging visual self-governance, that contributes confidently to the global COVID-19 pandemic photographic archive.

The project was supported by the Zambian National Visual Arts Council and Cambridge School of Art, Anglia Ruskin University, UK. It was initiated and facilitated by Dr Kerstin Hacker and Geoffrey Phiri.