Consequently, some African photographers started to capture and document that situation in order to raise awareness on the social change. They visited mentally ill people living on the streets and tried to understand their way of living and thinking. They reflected on the lack of solidarity toward those people in Africa, while in other parts of the world some would have received care.

Nabil Boutros

Nabil Boutros is born in 1954 in Cairo, Egypt. In 1973, he moved to Paris to study at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts after studying decorative arts in Cairo. His work is at the intersection of painting, scenography, and installation, but since 1986, photography has been his favored medium of expression. Boutros has mainly focused his photographic work on Egypt and the Middle East. In 1990, he started a 4-year project that featured a large series of Egyptian portraits. That photographic series depicts, among other issues, the links between Mediterranean cities, the rituals and daily life of the Egyptian Christians, and the period of Ramadan in Cairo. Boutros also documented more complex subjects such as the lifestyle of Bedouins in Jordan and the modernity in Egypt. More recently, he has taken up increasingly global themes including advertising in emerging countries, the relationship between the image and sacred text, and violence toward animals. Boutros has participated in several international exhibitions and various festivals dedicated to photography.

Dorris Haron Kasco

Dorris Haron Kasco is born in 1966 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. He began his photographic practice by pleasure before turning to advertising and fashion. In 1990, Kasco spent three years documenting the mentally ill people of Abidjan, people driven out of some village who travel to the city where they are ignored. He photographed them in the gutter, sleeping on the street, walking around naked or talking to themselves. Some were aware of being photographed and screamed at the photographer, or stared blankly in the camera. Others were lost in their own world and appear to be conscious of nothing. Kasco collaborated with Revue Noire which publishes the book Les fous d’Abidjan featuring a series of images on these mentally ill people who roam the city like ghosts. He also undertook a research project on the history of photography in Ivory Coast. Travelling across the country, he discovered around 150 photographers including the studio portraitist Cornelius Azaglo whom he befriended. In 2001, he directed a documentary film in tribute to his work and presented at the Bamako Biennale.

Bouna Medoune Seye

Bouna Medoune Seye is born in 1956 in Dakar, Senegal. He studied in Marseille, France before moving back to Dakar where he worked on growing the influence of African photography with the help of Boubacar Touré Mandémory, Moussa Mbaye, and Djibril Sy through the Laboratoire Agit’Art. He did various reportages trying to show the urban reality of his country. In 1992, Seye completed a 5-year project on documenting marginalized people living on the sidewalks of Dakar. Fascinated by quirky situation, he photographed various types of people on the streets with the impression that the city itself is a sidewalk. The images have been published two years later in the book Les trottoirs de Dakar by Revue Noire. In 1993, Seye directed a photography exhibition on Indian living in Canada. He started to work as art director, collaborating on the direction of various short films and documentaries. He also turned to painting and produced several abstract artworks. Seye has participated in numerous international exhibitions showing is photographs as well as paintings.