Mwanzo Millinga, who was born on 1967, has been practising photography since 1994 and currently teaches at the Flame Tree Media Trust in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. An admirer of Picasso, he quotes Sebastião Salgado as one of his influences, particularly his work on Brazilian miners, together with Henri Cartier-Bresson. He always carries a flash, but usually works with natural lighting, to render the atmosphere of the scenes he photographs at their best.
“It’s because I admired their beauty that I was driven to photograph people who suffer from albinism, a hereditary pigmentation defect characterised by extremely pale hair, eyes and skin. Due to their fragile nature, they often die around the age of forty. They are persecuted in countries such as Tanzania, where the belief that albinos have magical powers still lives on. In the Great Lakes region bordering Burundi, charlatans peddle charms and potions to miners and fishermen, made out of bits of albino skin, hair or body parts with the promise of striking gold or making a miraculous catch. To carry out their ghastly trade, witchdoctors pay killers to track down albinos all over the country. Some fifty-seven people with albinism have been murdered in Tanzania in recent years. Living in permanent insecurity, the albinos of this country have no choice but to stay inside their homes, unable to work or sustain themselves. So I went to document those who ran away from their homes and found refuge at the Kabanaga Disabled Centre in Kasulu, Kigoma Province. I handed them a frame they could hold however they liked, as a symbol of their confined, restricted life. I believe beauty is the product of two elements: inner beauty, which includes personality, intelligence, grace, politeness, charisma, integrity and elegance; and physical beauty, including health, youth, facial symmetry and complexion. Albinos are no exception to such criteria and deserve to be loved for what they are: beautiful.”
Françoise Huguier, curator
Text from the catalogue-book “Photoquai”, co-edited by Musée du Quai Branly- Actes-Sud
