Photo exhibition: Afropean - Notes On Black Europe

‘These scattered fragments of Afropean experience had formed a mosaic inside my mind (…) the Afropean reality was a bricolage of blackness and I’d experienced an Africa that was both in and of Europe.’ Afropean, Notes from Black Europe, p.380, London 2019

Writer and photographer Johny Pitts (b. Sheffield, UK) set off on a journey across Europe to examine his place as a Black European and the myriad lives of the continent’s Black communities. From London to Lisbon, via Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin, Stockholm, Moscow, Rome, and Marseille, he searched for the ‘Afropean’ identity, bringing the underexposed histories of Black Europeans to the surface. In Amsterdam – at the Black Archives - he learns about the lives of Hermina and Otto Huiswoud, Surinamese Marxists, and fighters against colonialism.

Pitts' journey resulted in the book Afropean - Notes from Black Europe, in which he reports on his experiences and encounters with openness and curiosity. Pitts, who has been photographing since childhood, also documented his journey in still black-and-white images. With his camera, he captured impressions of the everyday places he visited – graffiti, snowy streets, silhouettes, metro stations – thus creating a poetic interplay with the writing. The characters in the different urban landscapes of Europe seem lost in their own thoughts in the places they wander; often demonised, multicultural, working-class enclaves in danger of being under- or misrepresented.

A small selection of the photos appears in the book Afropean: Notes From Black Europe (Penguin in 2019), for which Pitts was recently awarded the Jhalak Prize, and both the Leipzig Book Prize of European Understanding and the European Essay Prize in 2021. Pitts is also the founder of the online platform Afropean.com. This exhibition is created by Foam and Forum on European Culture, and curated by Johny Pitts and Foam.

The exhibition in The Black Archives is realized on the occasion of the publication of the Dutch translation Afropeaan, Notities uit Zwart Europa, by Uitgeverij De Geus. You can visit it until July 16th 2022!

Open? Thursday - Saturday

Time? 11Am - 5 PM

Where? The Black Archives, Zeeburgerdijk 21

Entry? €5,-