EN / nl

Woods, Paolo

Paolo Woods engages in long-term photographic research projects that are news-related but not ephemeral media stories or ‘hard news’. He has travelled to many countries wracked with political, social or economic upheaval, spending years in each place to gain an in-depth understanding of the society. In the series Chinafrica, Woods explores the recent economic conquest of the African continent by China, which could be considered a form of neo-colonialism. In recent years Chinese corporations have made massive investments in the African continent in search of coveted raw materials. As a result, Chinese companies, entrepreneurs and approximately 500,000 Chinese immigrants have moved to Africa to make their fortune. Woods documents both large industrial projects and smaller businesses: factories in Nigeria, Chinese restaurants and karaoke bars in Lagos, dam projects and timber exploitation in the Congo, copper extraction in Zambia, villas built on expropriated land in Brazzaville, new housing projects in Algeria, and highway constructions across the continent. His images focus on the conditions and incidents of everyday life and work, conveying differing senses of cultural values, but also hinting at the complicities between African politicians and Chinese businessmen, as the former sell off their resources and land. They also document the interactions and often strained relations between Africans and Chinese: from scenes of social conviviality to scenes of tension in the workplace, where labour conditions are often harsh and exploitative. Chinafrica is a telling portrait of socio-economic shifts in a globalised world, and the human relations they engender. KG