Instagram Helping Dispel Myths Of What "Everyday Africa" Looks Like

The impact that images have had in shaping our views of the world cannot be overstated. Media continually gets critiqued for sensationalist images that perpetuate single stories about certain places. Images by different people such as Humans of New York or Somali Instagram star Ugaaso Abakar humanize their subjects and remind us that just as each person is deep, complex, multi-faceted, each place is also the same. We cannot simply ascribe terms such as poverty, war, disease and other such terms commonly used when talking about Africa and  assume that they are the extent of the African story. 

Everyday Africa is one of the Instagram accounts helping change people's perceptions of Africa.

The founders, two white men who are also foreigners to Africa, have made it a “targeted mission” over the years to ensure that the project centers on photographers from African countries, DiCampo said. Today the majority of their contributing photographers are from the continent, and they aim to continue to expand the diversity of their contributors, namely to include more African women as well as people from a wider range of countries. 

And the diversity of the pictures is wonderful — different countries, different themes, but always eye-opening, steering clear of telling a single story. 

Hopefully the reader enjoys the pictures and dives more into the Instagram world of people who are showcasing the continent in a different way. A few of my favourite accounts include: thepanafrican, Tstmkrsafrica, Truthslinger, Dakarlives among others.