GOVERNMENT PAYS TRIBUTE TO PHOTO-JOURNALIST
The Mozambican government on Monday paid homage to the country’s senior photo-journalist, Kok Nam, on the occasion of his 71st birthday.Addressing the ceremony, the Minister of Culture, Armando Artur, described Kok Nam as a living memory of Mozambique, first as a Portuguese colony, now as an independent state.Kok Nam is the son of Chinese emigrants who settled in Mozambique in the early 20th century, but he has always been clear that his own identity is Mozambican, and that has been reflected consistently in his photography.Artur compared Kok Nam with great Mozambican poets such as the late Jose Craveirinha. While Craveirinha was a poet of words, Kok Nam was a poet of images. “He registered images that time will place in the most illustrious galleries of our historical memory”, declared the Minister.Kok Nam’s career as a photographic reporter began in 1966 when he was invited to work for the paper ”Diario de Mocambique”. Over the next four years his work appeared in the papers “Voz Africana”,”Noticias” and “Noticias da Tarde”, where he struck up a friendship with the man regarded as the father of Mozambican photography, Ricardo Rangel.In 1970, Kok Nam was among the journalists who founded the weekly magazine “Tempo”, the nearest thing to an opposition publication in the then Portuguese colony. When Portuguese colonial-fascism fell in 1974, the pro-independence journalists took control of “Tempo” and pulled it in a left-wing direction.“Tempo” was perhaps the most influential of Mozambican publications in the early years of Mozambican independence, and many of the memorable photographs it published in those years came from the camera of Kok Nam.Kok Nam was a founder member of the Mozambican Association of Photography in 1981, and became the Association’s chairperson.He was also a founder of the country’s first independent media company, “Mediacoop”, owner of the daily newsheet “Mediafax” and the weekly paper “Savana”. Photographs by Kok Nam have been published across the globe in papers and magazines that include the “New York Times” and “Time Magazine” of the United States, “The Observer” and “The Independent” of Britain, and “Expresso” of Portugal.At the Monday ceremony, Kok Nam was awarded a diploma of honour, and a work of art depicting the Maputo neighbourhood of Mafalala, where he spent much of his youth.
The Mozambican government on Monday paid homage to the country’s senior photo-journalist, Kok Nam, on the occasion of his 71st birthday.Addressing the ceremony, the Minister of Culture, Armando Artur, described Kok Nam as a living memory of Mozambique, first as a Portuguese colony, now as an independent state.Kok Nam is the son of Chinese emigrants who settled in Mozambique in the early 20th century, but he has always been clear that his own identity is Mozambican, and that has been reflected consistently in his photography.Artur compared Kok Nam with great Mozambican poets such as the late Jose Craveirinha. While Craveirinha was a poet of words, Kok Nam was a poet of images. “He registered images that time will place in the most illustrious galleries of our historical memory”, declared the Minister.Kok Nam’s career as a photographic reporter began in 1966 when he was invited to work for the paper ”Diario de Mocambique”. Over the next four years his work appeared in the papers “Voz Africana”,”Noticias” and “Noticias da Tarde”, where he struck up a friendship with the man regarded as the father of Mozambican photography, Ricardo Rangel.In 1970, Kok Nam was among the journalists who founded the weekly magazine “Tempo”, the nearest thing to an opposition publication in the then Portuguese colony. When Portuguese colonial-fascism fell in 1974, the pro-independence journalists took control of “Tempo” and pulled it in a left-wing direction.“Tempo” was perhaps the most influential of Mozambican publications in the early years of Mozambican independence, and many of the memorable photographs it published in those years came from the camera of Kok Nam.Kok Nam was a founder member of the Mozambican Association of Photography in 1981, and became the Association’s chairperson.He was also a founder of the country’s first independent media company, “Mediacoop”, owner of the daily newsheet “Mediafax” and the weekly paper “Savana”. Photographs by Kok Nam have been published across the globe in papers and magazines that include the “New York Times” and “Time Magazine” of the United States, “The Observer” and “The Independent” of Britain, and “Expresso” of Portugal.At the Monday ceremony, Kok Nam was awarded a diploma of honour, and a work of art depicting the Maputo neighbourhood of Mafalala, where he spent much of his youth.
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