My African Letters (book)

My African Letters is a book of collected letters between the lawyer Amadi Omorose Azagba and myself. Azagba, whose former client Gabriel Ejlerskov, had tragically died and left behind a marvelous house in French colonial style and an astronomical sum of money, to be transferred to a relative. This correspondence develops into a lengthy exchange of letters, where the degree of detail gradually increases, almost making the story, in which I know is a lie, real.
The presentation of this project consisted of the letters and a number of paintings, illustrating some of the many images and dreams that were so vividly described in the letters from Azagba, in his effort to make the story real to me. In the prologue of the book, I describe what it felt like to be force-fed a white man’s exotic prejudices, and how I completely lost my sense of perspective of what was an artificial prejudice, and what was examples of my own true preconceptions of Africa. In the end: who was using who? Was I in reality ”the bad guy”, simply because I am more privileged than Azagba, and because I have spent 20 years in schools in Northern Europe? Was all this my responsibility since Azagba is probably poor and I am fair-haired? What sort of post-colonial guilt-game had I wrapped myself into?

My African Letters is a soft paperback book with 2 different paper types.
See some of the paintings from this project here.
 
ISBN: 978-87-92539-99-1
Edition: 600 copies
Year: 2012
Design: Woodpecker Projects, SE
Publishing House: Forlaget Siesta, DK 
Texts: Lars Rahbek, DK, Maj Hasager, DK, Ditte Ejlerskov, DK, Amadi Omorose Azagba, BN
Book size: L 26 cm, W 21 cm, D 1,5 cm
Textbook with 45 images, 160 pages in total 
Project support: Statens Kunstfond, DK