Amy Sall's 'The African Gaze' Examines Photography, Cinema, and Power Across the Continent

Amy Sall's book 'The African Gaze: Photography, Cinema and Power' (2024) profiles twenty-five photographers and twenty-five filmmakers from Africa, exploring the interplay between sociopolitical histories and image-making. The title references a course Sall taught at the New School. The book avoids celebratory tropes, instead building a 'sociology of infrastructures and institutions' as described by essayist Mamadou Diouf. It traces independence-era enthusiasms and neocolonial disillusionments while documenting styles, adornments, and daily life across countries. Filmmakers like Ousmane Sembène (Senegal), Youssef Chahine (Egypt), Paulin Soumanou Vieyra, Med Hondo, Djibril Diop Mambéty, and Fanta Régina Nacro are featured, with works often contested over purpose—commercial success versus local recognition in mother tongues. Photographers include James Barnor (Ghana), Mountaga Dembélé (Mali), Ernest Cole (South Africa), Jean Depara (Congo), Adama Kouyaté (Mali), and Samuel Fosso (Central African Republic). The book highlights networks and mentorship, referencing gatherings like FESPACO, the 1959 Congress of Black Writers and Artists in Rome, and FESTAC '77 in Lagos. Sall aims to acknowledge power dynamics in archiving African art without speaking back—'simply because they are.' The text is by Kim M. Reynolds, a writer and critical media scholar based in Cape Town.