ALICK PHIRI, Lusaka Street

64pp., illus., hardback, Art Paper Editions, (Ghent), 2023

ISBN: 9789464665154

Lusaka Street is an exploration of Zambia’s photographic past through the archive of Zambian image-maker Alick Phiri. One of the few surviving black photographers that had access to the medium from the 1960s through the 1990s in Lusaka, his photographs of people outside their homes, with their families, or in the street offer a rare insight into the everyday experience of Black Zambian communities and a visual narrative of post-independence Zambia.

Alick Phiri was born in Umvurwi, Zimbabwe, in 1948. Tutored by Prabhubhai Patel, the owner of Lusaka’s Photo Art Studios, he opened his own studio, Kwacha Photo Studio, in Kanyama in 1983, specialising in black and white portraits. His studio became a cornerstone for local families seeking portraits.