Snap Judgements: New Positions in Contemporary African Photography

This massive catalogue of the International Center of Photography's 2006 exhibition of contemporary African photography gives a thought-provoking introduction to how African artists have engaged with the international art world while sustaining their uniquely African points of view, whether they live at home or abroad. With artists hailing from South Africa to Morocco, the exhibit is a visceral reminder of the vastness and variety of a continent that colonial history has misunderstood and objectified, according to exhibit curator Enwezor. His introductory essay, although difficult reading for those unfamiliar with academic art-speak, provides an indispensable guide to this work, giving a context for what otherwise might overwhelm or mystify. He challenges assumptions of "Afro-pessimism" propounded by literature and the media that "focus on the exotic potentials of both man and animal," equating colonial photographer and African with hunter and game. In contrast, these artists wrench the image of Africa back from "the touristic gaze" to create a humanized, individualized iconography, while claiming their places within the international art community. From Randa Shaath's documentation of Cairo's precariously thriving rooftop community of artists to Kay Hassan's spooky portraits made from Polaroid negatives discarded by self-employed street photographers, this collection reveals an Africa looking with "fined-tuned alertness" at a rapidly changing world. (July)

Correction: The author of Lost Cosmonaut (Reviews, May 22) is Daniel Kalder.