Invisible Cities

Photographic representation of Africa in a Western context - characterised by largely pejorative imagery - has always held a fascination for the artist, Paul Seawright, and "Invisible Cities" was conceived as an attempt to add another, less prescriptive, layer to the pictorial mix. This lavishly illustrated artist's book with a highly distinctive format, draws inspiration from Calvino's book of the same name - which asserts that a city is less defined by its physicality and more by the way its inhabitants move within.Combining portraiture and architectural studies, these large format photographic works made in Lagos, Johannesburg, Lusaka and Addis Ababa, focus on those seemingly interminable prosaic moments, glimpses of the everyday in the hidden recesses of the city. This new monograph, brimming with powerful full bleed pictures gives voice to these burgeoning urban developments and highlights a dramatic, shifting and sometimes troubled landscape barely visible to the developed world. It includes an interview with the artist by Russell Roberts.