Madagascar: photojournalists expose themselves to make their profession better known
About forty photographs of Malagasy photojournalists are exhibited at the Museum of Iconographic Archives, in the district of Ambohidahy, in Antananarivo.
Here, the photographer of the daily Midi Madagasikara, Kelly Randriamampianina.
© Laetitia Bezain/RFI
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
In Madagascar, photojournalists exhibit their photos in the capital Antananarivo.
Until December 15, the work of the photographers gathered within the Collectif des reporters d'images is honored at Trano Sary, the Museum of Iconographic Archives, on the occasion of the month of photojournalism.
A free exhibition organized with the Ministry of Culture so that this difficult profession is better known to the public and recognized at its fair value.
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With our correspondent in Madagascar
,
Laetitia Bezain
,
Floods in the capital, drought in the Deep South, demonstrations and clashes with the police, but also performances by
hiragasy artists in flamboyant costumes
, the forty photos on display inform readers at first glance who often have little means to buy a newspaper.
Hery Rakotondrazaka, photographer for
La Gazette de la Grande Île
, is the president of the Collectif des reporters d'images de Madagascar:
There is a proverb that says in our country: a newspaper without a photo is like a plow without oxen. The photos are intended for everyone: the illiterate, the technicians, the intellectuals. It's direct and everyone can understand. As for example here with this photo in the south, we see people collecting water in yellow cans. We immediately understand that it is still drought there
While many newspapers are owned by political figures or entrepreneurs close to them, photojournalists often have to juggle between self-censorship and the transmission of information.
“
No direct censorship but limits
”
“
The problem for photojournalists in Madagascar is the media where we can publish our photos.
Almost all the newspapers here are owned by private companies.
There is the editorial line.
There is also the owner's policy.
Anyway, it has no direct censorship but there are always limits
”,
continues Hery Rakotondrazaka.
“
Photographers in Madagascar are very chameleonic.
There needs to be a certain self-censorship because we say to ourselves: “ah be careful, he is the one in power”.
We can inform people but in a more or less indirect way.
We use metaphors, for example.
We can't be too shocked and that's the difficulty
, "
adds Kelly Randriamampianina, photographer for the daily
Midi Madagasikara
, in front of her photo of four dromedaries in an enclosure in the Tsimbazaza zoological park.
An exhibition that also allows the transmission of techniques and knowledge to the younger generation.
Workshops are organized every Wednesday by professional photojournalists.
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To read also: Madagascar: accused of violating freedom of the press, the authorities defend themselves
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