From an unseen opening, light falls onto his face and t-shirt. He is poised between a wall and table, steadying his fingers on a class roster. A globe sits behind him, as well as a handbell. There is a sequenced array of rulers resting against the mud bricks, some of which cut across the length of his shorts. His gaze is outward, practiced in its melancholy; his suave is easy. That he tilts his slender body as so is the result of either a request by the photographer or his general tendency for swagger. That the photograph was taken from the threshold of an adjoining room, makes the map the farthest reach of this frame.
— Emmanuel Iduma
I was and still am an outsider to Africa. I am a foreigner who brings my own preferences, biases, and tastes to what I see. It is this outsider perspective that is at the core of [Another Africa.] Through the process of returning time and again to Africa, my perspective has evolved. Coupled with a practiced naivete, this perspective has allowed me to enter situations often unnerving or uncomfortable to peer into, and create imagery that is simultaneously from within and without. I continually choose that moment, that light, that gesture, and that framing to construct the image. It is difficult to put into words what the sum of those idiosyncratic choices is, except to say that, taken together, they present a specific style of seeing…
I have kept journals of my travels throughout the past nine years. Sometimes I’ve only notated names and addresses of individuals to whom I wish to send or bring back photographs; at other times, views of a particular time and place.
— Robert Lyons
EDITORIAL NOTE: This statement was first published as part of the photographer’s note in Another Africa, a book of photographs by Robert Lyons with an essay and poems by Chinua Achebe. It is reproduced with the photographer’s permission.
Robert Lyons lives and works in Portland, Oregon. He has taught extensively in the USA and Europe at various institutions including: Emily Carr College of Art & Design, University of Washington, Photographic Center Northwest, International Center of Photography, and the Ostkreuzschule in Berlin. Lyons received his BA in Photography form Hampshire College (Amherst, MA) and his MFA from Yale University. His work has been shown internationally for over 40 years. He is the Founder and Director of The Hartford Art School International Limited Residency MFA Program at the University of Hartford. See more of his work on his website.
