Ray Piwi on Documentary Photography

You'll have to lean in to hear Ray Piwi Chieng Olewe. Though his photography makes confident statements about land as a contested site of economic and political power, his speaking voice is barely above whisper.

He uses it to speak of Katutura.

Having worked and wandered through the township during his three-month residency at the John Muafangejo Art Centre, the 24-year-old photographer developed a fascination with 'the place where we do not want to live' and has been observing its people and exploring the meaning of its name in visual form.

The drinking culture in Katutura is different from the nightlife in his home city of Nairobi. There, bars are frequented by the older, moneyed generation. Those ageing government officials who can afford bottles and “sponsorship” while the younger generation gravitates towards the metropolis' nightclubs.

In Namibia, Ray has seen every kind of person in a shebeen. Makeshift watering holes that are never in people's houses in Kenya but which pop up in backyards in Namibia in a way that attracts his attention.

He hopes to see more Namibian photographers turn their lenses towards not just the shebeens but to the singular aspects of our country in a manner that interrogates, observes and bears witness.

He addresses Namibia's lack of documentary photography in the workshops he has held since his arrival in June. A duo of inspirational discussions and lessons in which he engaged both professional photographers and members of the community before challenging them to try their hand at documentary.

“I ran two workshops. One with the media students of the Katutura Community Arts Centre and another with members of the community. My main aim was to conduct a documentary session and see how Namibians tell their own story through photography,” he says.

Though Windhoekers clearly have myriad stories to tell, the ones that stood out to him were a young man's photographic journey of his daily commute from Rehoboth to Windhoek via taxi, a collection of images from a Dorado Park night football league, a Zimbabwean student's exploration of water as well as images of various women braiding hair for money in their homes.

“Documentary photography helps us tell our stories as Africans. I personally feel we need to document our time so we can look back in years to come with perspective. As a photographer, I think it is important to play your part in documentation.”

Though Ray acknowledges and respects the role the ordinary person plays in documenting the times through Facebook and Instagram, he believes this is only one aspect of documentation.

“We need more people taking photographs for constructive purposes. These are people taking the kind of photographs that will end up as their own country's as well as Africa's archival material.”

As part of his own contribution, Ray gives Namibia 'Of Abundance'. A modest collection of photographs currently on display at the JMAC gallery.

Presenting both urban and natural landscapes, 'Of Abundance' explores the idea of land as a commodity that is contested by those who own it, regulate it and those who illegally harvest its fruits to survive.

One such illegal harvester is a man who mines precious stones in the Erongo mountains.

Pictured peeling an orange in a junk yard, the man is one of many illegal miners trying to eke out a living. His hole in the ground is marked by a stick with a jacket laid over it like a flag. That marks it as his space and this unwritten law will not be contested by his fellows but it will be by government officials.

The same can be said for the man he photographs next to a protected palm. A tree sought out for its ability to provide fibre to weave mats and baskets, to make fencing as well as to produce oil and fruit to be consumed or processed.

When the palm tree cutters see Ray, they are afraid.

They think he is from the ministry and that he has come to put a stop to their activities. They say the ministries give tenders to cut and process palm trees to big companies and they end up with nothing.

“I'm trying to show how capitalism has caused human beings to contest space. Land is now a contested space. Yes, these people are doing this illegally but, at the end of day, they have to feed their family and it will not be good to take this away from them.

It would be better if there was another solution other than banning it and creating marginalisation. Whenever they see a stranger, it is like they think we are coming to take their livelihood away from them.”

Acting as a witness to both the miner and the palm tree cutter's dilemma of space and survival in capitalist society, Ray, who returns to Nairobi on 18 September, encourages young African photographers to embark on similarly documentary style explorations down whatever avenue that interests them.

“Just photograph no matter what. One day that photo that you take for yourself or just for fun will be important.”