Dar Foto Festival

Andrew Stephen Munuwa is an independent photographer and curator from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Within his photographic practice, he focuses on the daily African urban life in relation to spaces and the contemporary culture. He founded Dar Foto Festival in 2020 and currently acts as the Creative Director.

Valentin Rudloff works as a photographer and curator between Berlin and Dar es Salaam. Since 2023, he is the Co-Founder of Dar Foto Festival, Tanzania’s largest festival of photography. In his personal practice as a photographer, he focuses on the impacts of climate change and globalization on society and the environment. 

Mervki Republic  is a multidisciplinary art collective from Dar es Salaam that works in the fields of fashion, photography and visual arts. Since 2021, the ten-member collective has been passionately working on the boundaries of street culture and haute couture, politically charged identity discourses and exuberant self-presentation. Their fashion collections combine traditional craft techniques and materials with fashion gadgets and photo prints. For their photo shootings, they often choose historically charged locations or modern architecture ruins on the outskirts of the metropolis of Dar es Salaam.

Natalia Eric Musungu  is a photographer capturing the pulse of everyday life within her community and beyond. Moving through the streets of Dar es Salaam, she documents socio-political issues and changes in a poetic way. In her present work, she explores the traces of historical urban segregation of Dar es Salaam juxtaposed with today’s street life.

Sam Vox is a visual storyteller who explores environmental, social and cultural issues. Sam‘s identity has been shaped by the rich cultural communities along the Swahili coast, which is also reflected in his photography. ‘Kofia Diaries’ is an ongoing exploration of heritage, longing and belonging through images and text. The Kofia, a traditional headdress with deep roots in Swahili culture, is a powerful symbol of identity and unity. His serial portraits express a sense of pride in this tradition, which is inscribed in contemporary everyday culture.

Eric Lugakingira lives and works in Jambiani, Zanzibar, where he runs a studio and his own gallery. Lugakingira’s experimental photographic work is situated at the edges of documentation, fine arts, performance and installation. He often combines found material to photograph and alienate it in elaborated post-production processes. For his P.L.A.S.T.I.C project, he created large scale installations using waste material, creating abstract structures that are charged with symbolism of spirituality and belonging.

Vanessa Mwingira  dedicates her photographic practice to the portrayal of Black people and PoCs. With her project ‘PunkandBlack’, she offers a space in which people can relate to each other and experience Blackness beyond Western beauty standards. Her project ‘Huyu ni Mimi’ (‘This is me’) is a compilation of photographs that capture individuality and freedom of self-expression and celebrate diversity and coexistence in the urban society of Dar es Salaam.