Mohamed Amin, the African photojournalist, before the 1984 Ethiopian famine

Abstract

This study analyzes the professional career of Kenyan photojournalist Mohamed Amin, who is known for documenting the 1984 Ethiopian famine with images of the tragedy and also for capturing the extermination of the Ethiopian people during the dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam. The images that were broadcasted by the BBC shocked the world’s public opinion and had great international repercussions, mobilizing governments, individuals, and institutions. Some sources mention him as the man who moved the world, unfortunately reducing his visual work to this tragedy. This study, however, shows that although the report on the famine gave him international prestige, Mohamed Amin had already carried out an intense and prestigious previous work in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. For this purpose, a descriptive historical method is applied to the most important works (reports, interviews, and photo books) produced by this African photojournalist before 1984. The analysis includes international literature, produced works, and the collections of the Mohamed Amin Foundation in Nairobi (Kenya), which relate to the most important milestones of his visual corpus, composed of more than 8,000 hours of video and approximately 3.5 million photographs taken between 1956 and 1996 If Cartier Bresson was considered the eye of the world, Mohamed Amin was the eye of Africa.

Keywords

• Amin, Mohamed
• Africa
• graphic journalism
• Ethiopian famine 1984
• post-colonialism
• African ordinary life