Cola Land (& co)

Whoever travels to the African continent would have noticed - without paying that much attention - many modest road-side homes painted to bear the colors and logos of international brands. In Maputo, the capitol of Mozambique, where this phenomenon is clearly visible, the British magazine The Ecologist investigated in 2012. His conclusions are insightful and telling. Brands have found a remarkable and premier advertising medium on major routes - such as the one running from the airport to downtown Maputo - for no additionnal consideration for the residents than offering them a glossy new-look on the most traffic-visible wall of their dwellings. Nothing has changed ever since, and I wanted to bring a photographic eye to what appears as a pictorial comedy on a backdrop of poverty. Beyond the polemic character of the situation, It is a societal issue at stake here as elsewhere: an economic power at work in its capacity to impose its regime of commercial icons, and to cover the world with its flattering advertising aesthetics. What pushes these inhabitants to continue to accept such a fool's bargain? French philosopher, Dominique Quessada, in his essay "La Societe de consommation de soi, politique de la publicité" maybe offers an answer: "We cover ourselves with brands to signify ou existence ; we cover ourselves with marks so as not to disappear ".