Africa Is a Country

Mahesh Shantaram’s Addis Ababa Diary

Mahesh Shantaram’s Addis Ababa Diary

By
Sean Jacobs

Images of Ethiopia by Indian photographer Mahesh Shantaram

Image by Mahesh Shantaram.

A while back we featured a random photograph of Indian photographer Mahesh Shantaram (I think Achal Prabhala got me onto Mahesh’s work). Email contact led to me asking him if we could post some of his “Addis Ababa Diary” series on AIAC. Shantaram, who also works as a wedding photographer from his base in Bangalore, explained what led him to photograph in the Ethiopian capital:

Much of my work is personal, experiential, and purely subjective. There is no urgent story that needs telling and the only truth in it is what I make up along the way. My trip to Addis Ababa was motivated by a simple desire to go some place about which I had very little knowledge and start the process of discovery from virtually zero. This series of street photographs is the result of my quest for the colour of Africa. People (who think Africa is a Country) ask me, “Why Ethiopia?!” Just before Christmas time in 2011, my wife used to live in Madrid and I was busy shooting all over India. We decided to meet at some place mid-way. A quick look at the world map suggested that Ethiopia was that place, and how fortuitous it was that Indians are welcomed with visa-on-arrival. That’s always a game changer. And so shortly thereafter, we landed at Bole International Airport without any plan other than to let one thing lead to another.

You can click through the whole Addis Ababa series here.

Further Reading

Not exactly at arm’s length

Despite South Africa’s ban on arms exports to Israel and its condemnation of Israel’s actions in Palestine, local arms companies continue to send weapons to Israel’s allies and its major arms suppliers.

Ruto’s Kenya

Since June’s anti-finance bill protests, dozens of people remain unaccounted for—a stark reminder of the Kenyan state’s long history of abductions and assassinations.

Between Harlem and home

African postcolonial cinema serves as a mirror, revealing the limits of escape—whether through migration or personal defiance—and exposing the tensions between dreams and reality.

The real Rwanda

The world is slowly opening its eyes to how Paul Kagame’s regime abuses human rights, suppresses dissent, and exploits neighboring countries.

In the shadow of Mondlane

After a historic election and on the eve of celebrating fifty years of independence, Mozambicans need to ask whether the values, symbols, and institutions created to give shape to “national unity” are still legitimate today.

À sombra de Mondlane

Depois de uma eleição histórica e em vésperas de celebrar os 50 anos de independência, os moçambicanos precisam de perguntar se os valores, símbolos e instituições criados para dar forma à “unidade nacional” ainda são legítimos hoje.