Disko Bay publishing house released Maputo Diary by Ditte Haarløv Johnsen.
After more than twenty years photographing life in Mozambique—its people, the city, the civil war, friends, struggles, addiction, love, togetherness, a sense of belonging, and, generally, everyday life in the Mozambican capital—Haarløv Johnsen created a photographic archive depicting the country’s history, the relationships between people, how they loved, how they suffered, how they stood together, and how they continued to fight for a better future.
The book brings together 25 years of photographic work from Mozambique’s capital, Maputo — the city where Haarløv Johnsen grew up in the aftermath of the War of Independence and the early stages of a long civil war. Through 121 photographs, accompanied by diary notes and new texts, Maputo Diary portrays life, love, and survival among people living on the margins of society, blending social documentary with artistic investigation. At its heart lies Haarløv Johnsen’s friendship with the “Manas” (“Sisters”)—a group of transgender individuals, many of whom are no longer alive. Maputo Diary stands as both a personal testimony and a universal story — one that finds beauty, dignity, and humanity even in life’s most vulnerable moments. With its rich color palette and calm, contemplative tone, the book brings a world that may seem far away intimately close.
“Maybe that’s what Maputo Diary is too. An insistence on bearing witness to the lives of others when nobody else was there to make sure they didn’t just disappear.” — Ditte Haarløv Johnsen, Maputo Diary
Ditte Haarløv Johnsen (b. 1977) is a Danish documentary photographer and filmmaker who grew up in Mozambique, where her parents settled after the country gained independence from Portugal. As a teenager, she moved to Denmark with her father but continued to photograph during her travels back to Mozambique, where her mother and youngest sister remained.
Ditte Haarløv Johnsen : Maputo Diary
Disko Bay
Clothbound debossed hardcover
Introduction and diary notes by Ditte Haarløv Johnsen
Text by Eliana N’Zualo
Language: English and Portuguese
Designed by Louis Montes
232 pages, 22 × 26,50 cm
ISBN 978-87-975274-5-0
Price €60/£50
www.diskobay.org
Instagram: @disko_bay_books
The book is distributed worldwide via Idea Books and in UK by Public Knowledge Books.
