One of the leading architects of his generation, David Adjaye has stepped out of his regular line of work to photograph and document key cities in Africa as part of an ongoing project to study new patterns of urbanism. This collection of photographs is a personal quest through the eyes of an architect to address the scant knowledge of the built environment of the African continent.
David Adjaye has photographed the salient features of Africa's cities including suburban settlements, unofficial developments and townscapes. Brought together for the first time, these photographs reveal the cities themselves and examine the buildings and places which have a special resonance with Adjaye's preoccupations as an architect.
Often regarded as a continent defined by underdevelopment, poverty, war and tourism, through this exhibition Adjaye presents Africa in a different light. This detailed survey will reveal a unique snapshot of life in Africa today, documenting the nature of urban life in a developing country, a unique geo-cultural survey profiling the African city in a global context.
Adjaye has captured the urban development of cities including Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda showing traces of its Colonial past, Tripoli in Libya, very much invaded by the energy of the present, the informal settlements on the edges of new cities like Abuja, Nigeria and the traces of apartheid still inscribed on Pretoria, South Africa.