Monrovia animated
Liberia, 2014
You can see the animated GIFs here or view the still images here.
For lower resolution images, click here.
Francois Beaurain is trying to create a new image for Liberia with his vibrant GIFs. Above is titled 'Child Soldier'.
Courtesy François Beaurain
You can see the animated GIFs here or view the still images here.
For lower resolution images, click here.
Mr Smith Lib Money International
Christopolis
How to plait
Chop my money
Quick visit
Tournez manège
Lappa
Liberian Emitting Diode (LED) display
Newton disc
Color belt
After the rain
Well
Shake the throne
Child soldier
KITT
Princess
Karate Bone again
Monrovia Falls
Girl with the aubergine dress
Karate Bone
Starfish
Swept out
Bewitched
Born to live
Land art by Paco
Monrovia Hells Angels
Beauty salon
Former French embassy
Wave pool
Some more stairs
Spaceship
Ducor stairs
Ducor gears
At Ikea
Swimming-pool
Joseph J. Roberts
Untitled
Pie
Some stairs
Ducor Hotel roof top
Ducor Hotel 5th floor
Old shack
Liberia comes alive in these clever animated GIFs
May 8, 2014 -- Updated 1050 GMT (1850 HKT)
Editor's note: If you're reading this article on a mobile, you can see the animated GIFs here or view the still images here.
(CNN) -- French photographer Francois Beaurain knew virtually nothing of Monrovia when he followed his girlfriend, a humanitarian worker, to the Liberian capital.
"I was not even able to
put Monrovia or Liberia on a map. So, like everybody, I started to
Google it," he confesses. The search results did not paint a pretty
picture of the country: images that popped up were mainly of civil war,
blood diamonds, and child soldiers.
"It looks like a
nightmare, like hell on earth. It's a very bad marketing job," says
Beaurain. When he arrived, he admits he was "not scared, but worried,"
though he soon found the city was a much friendlier place than Google
let on.
"I quickly realized it's
really rather nice," he says. "It's one of the safest countries in
Africa. There's a big discrepancy between what is really the country and
its image internationally."
Addressing this
disparity, Beaurain launched Monrovia Animated, a series of GIFs that
aims to capture the city's lighter side. Though the settings in some of
these looped animations show the scars of Liberia's civil war (the once
five-star Ducor Intercontinental Hotel, which today stands empty, is a
regular backdrop), Beaurain's films also feature smiling, upbeat locals.
"I don't always have a
plan. A lot of the time, I go around the city and meet people. It's just
about having fun and creating some magic," he says.
Though many of the city's
residents recognize him now, he admits that finding subjects had its
challenges in the beginning, particularly because most assumed he was a
foreign reporter looking to exploit their image.
"The moment they see you
have a camera, they think you're a journalist and will bring the photo
back to America to make money from it," he says. To put his subjects at
ease, Beaurain made a point of returning with the GIF on a smartphone,
both to prove that the image would stay in Liberia, and to demonstrate
his concept.
"They don't always
understand that day why I want them to run, but if they don't get it on
the spot, they get it a few days later when I come back with the phone."
The digital format also
appeals to Beaurain, partly because he finds Africa is underrepresented,
both as a theme in digital art, and as a source of it.
For Beaurain, an
important aspect of the project is showing that Liberia is capable of
creating powerful, thought-provoking digital works. Since moving to
Monrovia, the local culture has inspired a number of other projects,
too, including collages made from Nollywood posters and sculptures made
from decommissioned AK-47s from the country's civil war.
Mainly, though, Beaurain wants to update the version of Liberia currently making the rounds on the internet.
"Honestly, the goal of
this is that maybe in a few months, or a few years, when people stop to
Google Liberia or Monrovia, they will find my GIFs, instead of images of
child soldiers," he says. "Maybe it's a little bit ambitious, but
that's the target."
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