The clash of ideas and cultures can be found in many areas of
the modern landscape but few are so jarring as can be found in
the architecture of former colonial states in Africa. Traces of
French and Portuguese sensibilities and colonial idealism are
still found on display in the civil buildings that have now
shifted their use with contemporary African culture after
independence in the early 1960's. The South African photographer
Guy Tillim's new book from Prestel, Avenue Patrice Lumumba
explores how these modernist structures have become an integral
part of the culture and absorbed into its identity. Patrice
Lumumba was an outspoken leader who challenged the Belgian
status quo which favored, not rule of the land but recognized
only the rule of the powerful. After winning the 1962 Congolese
election and assassinated by Belgian agents that same year, he
became deified as a liberator of independent Africa. Today in
many African cities, streets and squares bear his name in honor.
As Tillim describes this work, "