ZAM Magazine

You've entered the world of ZAM. Experience (investigative) journalism, photography and art from Africa ZAM is a non-profit foundation.

ZAM brings you edgy and thought provoking perspectives from Africa. Free of clichés, platitudes or romantic notions of the continent. The ZAM network consists of (investigative) journalists, writers, visual artists, photographers, academics, visionaries and doers, Together they fuel critically acclaimed, independent publications in print and online, events and other projects. Founded in 1997 and based in Amsterdam, ZAM is rooted in a heritage of anti-apartheid activism, provocative journalism and artistic expression.

09/10/2026

Winners: Sabelo Mlangeni & Otobong Nkanga

South African photographer Sabelo Mlangeni Sabelo Mlangeni was announced as the winner of the 2026 James Barnor Prize in July. ZAM has featured his work frequently in recent years. Nigerian visual artist Otobong Nkanga Otobong Nkanga will receive the Sikkens Prize in October this year.

Sabelo Mlangeni (1980, Driefontein), a self-taught photographer, began his career in 1997 at a wedding. There, he was handed a camera and took his first photograph. Now, having held numerous international exhibitions in cities including Johannesburg, Bamako, London, San Francisco, Paris and Amsterdam, his work is characterised by an intense intimacy. It conveys a strong, compelling identification with those portrayed — villagers, migrants and q***r people.

The Nigerian visual artist Otobong Nkanga @ (1974, Kano) is also being honoured. In October, she will be awarded the biennial Sikkens Prize and will open her exhibition Humus Blues at the Singer Museum in Laren, featuring sculptures, textiles, drawings, paintings, photographs and poetry. Previous solo exhibitions have been held at venues including the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris, the MCBA in Lausanne, MoMA in New York, the Kunsthaus Bregenz, the Castello di Rivoli in Turin, the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp. She has also taken part in leading international exhibitions, including the 2026 Venice Biennale, documenta 14 in Kassel and the Sydney Biennale. She has received various prestigious awards, including the Sharjah Biennial 14 Prize (2019) and the Nasher Sculpture Prize (2025).

Read the full article - link in bio
and on zammagazine.com

Sikkens Prize
James Barnor Archives

07/10/2026

This winter in South Africa, which was summer in the global North, the world was shaken by images of mostly poor Black South Africans marching against often even poorer Black African immigrants, many of them undocumented. At times, the marches in townships and informal settlements turned violent. Ghettos within ghettos were “cleansed”, with Zimbabwean, Malawian and other African families and workers chased from their homes.

The images went all over the world. South Africa became the target of vociferous accusations. What was wrong with the Black people in that country? Had they forgotten Mandela? Discarded their own peace-loving ‘ubuntu’ principles? South Africa was jeered by supporters from other African nations at the World Cup and heavily attacked in Africa, including on social media. It was seen as a betrayal of the principles of Pan-Africanism.

Full article via link in bio
And on zammagazine.com

05/10/2026

Crosscurrents and Affinities,
At DADA Gallery Lagos, until 31 October 2026

Crosscurrents and Affinities is a group exhibition bringing together seven master and emerging Nigerian artists: Nike Davies-Okundaye (Mama Nike), Kelechi Chinwendu, Chigozie Obi, Abiodun Olaku, Ayotunde Ojo, Kainebi Osahenye and Kadara Enyeasi. Spanning generations, styles and approaches to image-making, Crosscurrents and Affinities considers the continuities, divergences and unexpected affinities that have shaped Nigerian artistic practice. Figurative paintings embedded with cultural and fantastical narratives sit alongside intimate domestic scenes, politically charged landscapes and large-scale abstraction. Across the exhibition, inherited cosmologies meet lived precarity; the visible encounters the unseen; and personal experience becomes inseparable from wider social and political conditions.

DADA
Nike Art Gallery
Hon. Kelechi, Chinwendu Kelechi (Chi Omenka)
Abiodun Olaku
Ojo
Kainebi Osahenye
enyeasi

Image: ©Ayotunde Ojo, Untitled (Muscle memory), 2026, Oil, acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 152.4 x 157.48cm.

01/10/2026

The propaganda emanating from Kigali is a warning: Rwanda’s regime now presents a global threat.
By Samuel Baker BYANSI

Within roughly a day of each other last August, two articles surfaced in Kigali’s media ecosystem that, read side by side, tell us that the war in eastern Congo is far from over. They also suggest that — if the Rwandan regime’s propaganda in these mouthpieces is to be taken seriously, as it should be — there is a risk that the conflict could expand.

Read the full article by clicking the link in bio.

Image by David Peterson. Sourced via Pixelbay

29/09/2026

Film, music and visual arts at the iAfrica Film Festival satellite event in Groningen

The iAfrica Film Festival is taking place in Groningen on October 16th, 2026. The iAFF serves as a platform to spotlight the African continent's immense global cultural contributions. The programme showcasing Africa's cultural riches presents challenging narratives to the prevailing imagery of Africa that often dominates the Global North.

This year the festival presents a unique programme showcasing some of the very best films of the past years. Audiences can look forward to a carefully curated selection of outstanding cinematic highlights that have defined the festival's journey, reflecting the richness, creativity, and diversity of African storytelling. Alongside these cinematic gems, the programme will feature a vibrant cultural performance and dinner, creating a memorable celebration of African cinema, culture, and community in Groningen.

Find tickets and more information through the link in bio.

iAfrica is an initiative of Yangambi, founded by Dady Kiyangi and Angélique Mbundu and hosted in Groningen by the University of Groningen.

The festival opens with a short film: Nana Piaw (Williams Ameh) Followed by the documentary: Blind Spots (Godfrey Mumpe) after the dinner and cultural break screening of the feature film: The Fisherman (Zoey Martinson)

Image: The Fisherman, film still. Courtesy of the producers and iAfrica Film Festival

22/09/2026

Sites of Memory presents
Space of Becoming 2026
A Dance-Theatre Collaboration Across Oceans
26th sep - 11th oct

Space of Becoming is an international dance-theatre production bringing together artists from the Netherlands, Sri Lanka and South Africa. A collaboration between Sites of Memory, Wij Zijn DOX - official (NL) , Kapila Palihawadana (LK), and Camissa Create (SA). The performance uses dance, music, spoken word and visual art to explore the interconnected colonial histories of these three countries and how these histories continue to shape societies and personal lives today.

The official premiere takes place on 3 October 12.30 pm at FENIX in Rotterdam, as part of Afrovibes Festival. Space of Becoming can also be seen in Utrecht, Maastricht and Amsterdam.

Tickets & more information: sitesofmemory.nl

Dates NL - 26 September - 11 November

26-28 September Utrecht
Theater Kikker Theater Kikker
Sat 16:00 & 20:00
Sun 16:00 & 20:00
Mo 11:00 & 14:00

3–4 October
Rotterdam FENIX (Premiere) Fenix
As part of Afrovibes Festival Afrovibes Foundation
2nd- school day
3rd - Sat 12:30 & 15:30
4th - Sun 12:30 & 15:30

6–7 October
Maastricht Bonnefanten Museum Bonnefanten
As part of Nederlandse Dansdagen
6th- Tue 12:00 & 15:00
7th- Wed 11.00 & 14:00

10–11 October
Amsterdam
Scheepvaartmuseum Het Scheepvaartmuseum
As part of Afrovibes Festival
10th Sat 12:00 & 15.30
11th Sun 12:00 & 15:30

Tickets & more information: sitesofmemory.nl

21/09/2026

Editorial: Xenophobia and truth

Facts are often missing from debates on migration. Has the deportation of undocumented people from the US resulted in more jobs and services for US citizens? Did the busing of 50,000 migrants out of South Africa deliver more medicines to the country’s dilapidated clinics? Will Europe’s documented youth have more access to housing if unsuccessful asylum seekers are safely stashed behind barbed wire in “return hub” countries?

Let alone having all the answers, in many cases, we do not even ask the right questions. Where, for example, do these migrants actually come from? What prompted them to set out on journeys that require them to confront dangerous, and sometimes corrupt and extortionary, border forces, cross seas and deserts, and often risk death?

The questioning goes hand in hand with the search for facts. Both are hallmarks of investigative journalism, an important pillar of ZAM’s work, precisely because so much of what we deal with unfolds in a confusing arena: the dynamics between Africa and Europe. Where, in this arena, is the truth about the movement of both people and wealth?

The search for truth is difficult, wherever in this arena we find ourselves...

Read the full editorial, and more articles featured in our September newsletter on zammagazine.com

Image credit: Sindiso Nyoni 2023

18/09/2026

Many tech firms recruit content moderators and other personnel from across Africa to work in Nairobi, the continent’s “Silicon Valley”. But dodgy contracts and residency issues can leave migrants stranded.

Read the full article by Mukanzi Musanga by clicking the link in bio.

zammagazine.com

16/09/2026

Nigeria | The ransom economy

Kidnapping syndicates run rampant in Nigeria, extorting vast sums of money from victims’ families. There are measures that could be taken to fight the scourge. But state neglect and the prioritisation of unnecessary arms contracts over suitable strategy cause Nigeria to sink ever deeper into its security quagmire.

On Sunday, 14 June 2026, at the popular Vegetable Market along Airport Road in Benin City, Edo State, a woman was kidnapped by gunmen in front of a stunned crowd of traders and shoppers.

The woman had just returned from church with her husband and children and had left them in the car while she shopped at the market. On arrival, the gunmen blocked the family’s car before getting out of their vehicle. They shot at and punctured two of the car’s tyres, then opened fire to discourage anyone from intervening. They dragged the woman’s husband towards their vehicle, but he managed to fight them off and flee on foot. The gunmen then turned their attention to the woman, forced her into their vehicle and drove away, firing shots into the air to frighten approaching drivers and clear the road for their escape. The entire incident unfolded as shoppers, traders and nearby security personnel scrambled for safety.
Meanwhile, the Edo State Police Command headquarters was less than a four-minute drive from the Vegetable Market..

Read the full investigation by Mistus Elordie by clicking the link in bio.

zammagazine.com

14/09/2026

How laughter exposes politicians as cowards and puts corruption and bad governance firmly in the spotlight.

Samantha Kureya was abducted and tortured, yet came back to continue her comedy show. Satirical performer Bon Kalindo was arrested fifteen times. Cartoonist Mustapha Bulama was slammed by Nigeria's First Lady, and the fun-poking newspaper Le Popoli recently emerged from a six-month publication ban. But their following on social media, especially among the youth, keeps increasing. A team of investigative journalists in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Nigeria, and Cameroon discovered how the power of laughter, especially laughter at authorities, is undermining "politicians who use big words to confuse the public" across the African continent.

Read more on zammagazine.com, or follow our link in bio.

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