From virtual stream to printed pages

As Everyday Africa launches its first book, we take you behind the scenes to learn about the history, process, and importance of the project.

An edit of Everyday Africa’s first book on the table. Photo courtesy of Teun van der Heijden.

When Peter DiCampo and Austin Merrill created Everyday Africa on Instagram in 2012 as an organic response to stereotypes in the media, they had no idea it would inspire thousands of others to follow in their footsteps, creating accounts from Everyday Egypt to Everyday Ecuador.

“We’re always looking for new ways to explore this material. Everyday Africa — the entirety of The Everyday Projects, for that matter — is so much more than a stream of photographs on Instagram,” said Austin, who, along with Peter, played around with the idea of a book for years.

First book concepts created by Peter DiCampo. Photos courtesy of Peter DiCampo.

Turning a successful social media account into a book, however, didn’t resonate with many publishers. But, when Austin and Peter met book designer Teun van der Heijden, they were convinced.

“The Internet is a sort of a continuous flow where you can merely dip your finger in, and a book is something that gives you more old-fashioned experiences like reflection,” said Teun, who, along with partner Sandra van der Doelen, has designed books for more than 15 years for clients including World Press Photo and Amnesty International.

“I think both the virtual world and the paper world can coincide very well.”

During the process, Austin’s running tally of how many photos the book had per country and photographer. Photo courtesy of Austin Merrill (left). Prints in a box with sketches of book covers. Photo courtesy of Teun van der Heijden (right).

Creating a hardcopy version of a virtual account — with more than 3,000 images taken by 30 photographers on the world’s second largest continent — was one of their biggest challenges.

“The editorial logistics of putting the book together have only made it more difficult. Our photographers are traveling all the time, and they live and work all over Africa and the world. The book’s designer lives in Amsterdam, and the book’s editors live in Accra, Naivasha, and New York. It makes for a lot of emailing and Skype calls,” said Austin Merrill (left), speaking here via Skype with Teun van der Heijden (right). Screenshot courtesy of Peter DiCampo.

“Obviously you will not have all the pictures from [Everyday Africa], but you can grasp the project in a book form. But, therefore, the book has to be an object. It has to be a tangible, special thing where you concentrate more on feeling than on vision,” said Teun.

The overall feeling, says Teun, is positive, even happy, and reflects the natural flow of the Everyday movement. With more than 260 images contained in a compact book, it feels like scrolling through Instagram, until you realize the text, which is mostly audience-generated comments, is just as important as the images.

In an almost maze-like fashion, the reader is compelled to find the comments associated with each image through the use of hashtags. Upon discovering that the comment “I was there…lived there for three months. It is a filthy, filthy place. #Ebola” pairs with a picture of two women playing joyously on the beach, or that “So modern…” pairs with a woman taking cellphone pictures on a canoe ride, we begin to think more deeply not only about how others view Africa, but also about how we ourselves view it.

Sample pages from the Everyday Africa book, showing a photograph and audience-generated comments associated with a different image. Readers must pair comments with photos by searching for the same hashtags.

“There’s the photographer’s reaction to the subject matter, your own personal reaction to the image, the commenter’s reaction to the image, and your own personal reaction to that reaction. What you get is a multi-mirrored effect that acts sort of like a refraction. Noticing all these levels slows you down and makes you consider the impact of misperception,” said Austin.

For Everyday Africa photographer Tom Saater, audience engagement is what he enjoys most. “Through this I’m learning and realizing how non-Africans see Africa.”

Photos by Everyday Africa contributors Tom Saater (left) and Jane Hahn (right). Both images are featured in the Everyday Africa book.

Jane Hahn, who has contributed to Everyday Africa since 2013, echoes this sentiment. “Overall it’s great to see how people react to the photo and the kind of impact that it has made and the conversations that stem from those reactions.”

A student points out her photographs at the final exhibition closing of an 8-week Everyday Africa workshop in Bronx, New York. The 2014 workshop led to the creation of Everyday Bronx. Photo by Austin Merrill.

It is this rich interplay of unexpected imagery and commentary that makes Everyday Africa, along with the myriad Everyday accounts, an ideal teaching tool. “Studying the conversations from the Instagram feed adds another layer. It’s a direct lesson in cross-cultural communication, comparing how people see themselves to outside perceptions,” said Peter.

With the support of partners such as the Pulitzer Center, Open Society Foundations and PhotoWings, for the past two years Everyday Africa has taught more than 2,500 students in the USA about stereotypes in the media, journalism, photography and storytelling.

“I hope the book will make people pause and reflect on how they think about Africa and, by extension, how they think about every other part of the world. It’s all about finding ways to understand one another,” said Austin.

To support printing and publishing costs for its first book, Everyday Africa has launched a Kickstarter campaign, which includes rewards such as donating a book to a classroom. If the fundraising goal is met, the book, which also features writing by Maaza Mengiste, Stephen Mayes and Nana Kofi Acquah, will launch at Ethiopia’s AddisFotoFest this December.