independence day 1934-1975 first independence day ... · the first independence day, leading up to...
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Independence Day 1934-1975 (2009-ongoing)
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Maryam Jafri
Independence Day 1934-1975 features over 55 archival photos culled from
more than 30 archives of the first Independence Day ceremonies of various
Asian, Middle Eastern, and African nations including Jordan, Kuwait,
Indonesia, India, Tunisia, Ghana, Senegal, Syria, Malaysia, Kenya, Tanzania,
Mozambique, Vietnam (South), DR Congo, Burkina Faso and Algeria. A key
feature of the work is that the photos are sourced primarily from public archives in
the Asian and Africa countries themselves. !
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The first Independence Day, leading up to and including the formal ceremony,
unfolds as a series of highly codified rituals and elaborate speech acts enacted
across public and elite spaces. The swearing in of a new leadership, the signing
of relevant documents, the VIP parade, the stadium salute, the first address to
the new nation, is all supervised and orchestrated by the departing colonial
power. The photographic material is strikingly similar despite disparate
geographical and temporal origins as it reveals a political model exported from
Europe and in the process of being cloned throughout the world. The photo
installation emerges as a typology, poised somewhere between a grid and a
storyboard. Although a great deal of research has been done on both the
colonial and the post colonial eras, this project aims to introduce a third,
surprisingly neglected element into the debate – that 24 hour twilight period in
between, when a territory transforms into a nation-state. !!!!!
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Images courtesy of: Teen Murti Archives (India), National Archives of Tanzania, Mohamed
Kouaci Archives (Algeria), National Museum of Syria, Sami Moubayed Archive (Syria),
National Archives of Malaysia, Ghana Ministry of Information, Kenya Ministry of
Information, Rift Valley Railways Archive (Kenya), Radiodiffusion Télévision Nationale
Congolaise (DR Congo), Personal collection (Sudan), Mozambique National School of
Photography, National Archives of Indonesia, Kuwait National Oil Company, Cosme Dossa
Archive (Benin), National Library of The Philippines, Rizal Library at Ateneo de Manila
University, Andre Zoungrana Archive (Burkina Faso), Presidential Archives Republic of
Tunisia, National Library of Jordan, Royal Court Library of Jordan, Senegal Ministry of
Communication, Photo-ANTA (Madasgascar), National Archives of Sri Lanka, Lake House
Archives (Sri Lanka), Fraternite Matin Archives (Ivory Coast), Morocco Ministry of
Communication, Agence Burundaise de Presse (Burundi), Anonymous, etc.
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55+ black & white photos, each photo approximately about A5 size (14.8 x
21 cm/5.8 x 8.3 in), archival inkjet prints
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