April 1979
When Rhodesia Became Zimbabwe
I’m 26 years old when I leave New York, my boyfriend and my job as a photo editor, to cover the war of liberation in Rhodesia. Why? I love Africa, I want to be a photojournalist, and the conflict interests me. My mother is Indian-America, so I feel like the ‘Negro question’ concerns me. Rose-Marie, the wife of the photographer Nik Wheeler and assistant to Göksin, offers me a job at Sipa. It’s the school of photography, my ticket to the big leagues… April 1979. The first multiracial elections. The Methodist Bishop Abel Muzorewa becomes the Prime Minister. That’s him, in the middle of this police class photo, organized to mark the handover of power from whites to blacks. I love this picture. It’s simple but it says so much. And it also means a lot for me. My first big story. Published in The Sunday Times and Paris Match, the photo is honored by the World Press. I get calls from Newsweek and The New York Times… It was a milestone. I only stayed at Sipa for a few years, but Göksin continued to follow my work.
Maggie Steber
Read the full text of this article on the French version of Le Journal.
40 ans de photojournalisme – Génération Sipa
Michel Setboun and Sylvie Dauvillier
Layout: Grégory Bricout
© 2012, Éditions de La Martinière
239 pages – 39 euros
