Generation Z

Generation Z is the title of a series of photographs that document the rapid pace of change in contemporary life and commercial urban (re)development in Lusaka, capital of Zambia. The project aims to push visual representation into new and innovative directions to challenge existing visual knowledge and encourage new viewers to contemplate economic development in Africa. Far beyond existing visual narratives that often depict African culture through rural experience and beautiful landscapes by relying on, often repeating, stereotypical images of poverty and indigenous wildlife: these photographs narrate a powerful story of everyday life as experienced by affluent inhabitants in growing and swiftly developing urban centres. It is forecast that by 2030 (United Nations, 2019) half of Zambia’s population will live in these cities. Hacker’s photographs document this change and reveal it by employing a new methodology that departs from existing visual research material. By avoiding, yet acknowledging, outdated reference material from the visual ‘colonial library’ these photographs open new dialogues into representations of African cultures and propose a fresh chapter in the history of world photography where voice and place are represented by a sophisticated and informed documentary lens.