Booming Internet, 2000. Philip Kwame Apagya. Courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
I first saw this photograph at The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York. It is taken by Philip Kwame Apagya, a Ghanaian artist whose work sets a contemporary twist on traditional West African portraiture through painted backdrops that reflect affluent international culture. Here, a man and a woman pose as boss and secretary right beside the Booming Internet (2000) – a reality beyond their means.
The photo evokes thoughts on access and context in the information age. It points out that not everyone has access to the internet, be it physical access or resources and skills for digital citizenship. And while it entails marginalization the ingenious tableau also hints at untrained, fresh approaches to the contemporary condition.
Drawing on shortcomings as well as low-cost modern technologies spreading in new areas around the globe, marginal media practices can generate potential ideas and initiatives. This happened in Kenya, where Morris Mbetsa, an 18-year-old self-taught inventor, came up with a mobile phone-based “anti-theft device and a vehicle tracking system” using the combination of voice, tone dialing and text messages over a mobile network to control some of the electrical systems in a vehicle. Read about the “Block & Track” system and other mundane inventions on AfriGadget, a booming blog dedicated to documenting Africans using creativity to overcome everyday challenges.