Photojournalism

EXHIBITION: GHANA, FOLLOWING OUR E-WASTE

Foundation Manuel Rivera-Ortiz (MRO), Arles, France

July 1, 2024 - September 29, 2024

The Fondation Carmignac and the MRO Foundation are presenting the exhibition Ghana: Following our e-waste from 1 July to 29 September 2024 at the MRO Foundation (Arles).

Having long invaded Asia (Russia, India, China, etc.), e-waste from Europe and the United States is arriving in extensive quantities in the ports of West African countries such as Ghana, in violation of international treaties. A country renowned for its political stability and respect for a multi-party system, Ghana is faced with the proliferation of informal open-air landfill sites.

It was against this backdrop that began the investigation by the 13th Carmignac Photojournalism Award laureates, Anas Aremeyaw Anas and photojournalists Muntaka Chasant and Bénédicte Kurzen (NOOR).

Ghana, Accra, Zongo Lane, printemps 2023.
Ghana, Accra, Zongo Lane, printemps 2023.
Zongo Lane ressemble à une caverne d’Alibaba. Des centaines de petites boutiques de composants électroniques, de modules et de pièces détachées en tout genre peuplent les rues étroites de ce vieux quartier d’Accra. Les appareils électroniques cassés sont démontés et réutilisés. Des Ghanéens, mais aussi des Nigérians, travaillent ici. C’était aussi le marché des équipements électriques et électroniques usagés (UEEE) en provenance d’Europe, mais les rues étroites ne permettaient pas à tous les conteneurs de se garer et de se décharger sans créer une situation de trafic compliquée. Alors qu’en Europe les réparateurs indépendants ont quasiment disparu, c’est tout un écosystème économique qui survit grâce à cet artisanat. © Bénédicte Kurzen pour la Fondation Carmignac / NOOR

"Ghana: Following our e-waste" explores the ramifications of e-waste trafficking from Europe to Ghana, revealing the opacity of this globalised circuit and highlighting the opportunities and environmental impact of this economy.
Statistics from the latest United Nations report on e-waste complete this wide-ranging investigation.

"Ghana: Following our e-waste" is part of a wider exhibition entitled "L'Engagement" presented by the MRO Foundation as part of a programme associated with Les Rencontres d'Arles.


L’Engagement
The exhibition explores the complexity of commitment through the prism of migration, globalization and identity crises. Through the works of various artists, it raises the dilemmas of the concept of legality and the tensions of belonging. The exhibition prompts us to reflect on our own responsibility and commitment, while paying tribute to the work of reportage.

Pratical Information

From 1 July to 29 September 2024
Fondation Manuel Rivera-Ortiz (MRO), 18 rue de la Calade, 13200 Arles - France
Free access with Rencontres d'Arles Pass - Full rate 6 €.

Images from the report

© Bénédicte Kurzen (NOOR) pour la Fondation Carmignac
© Bénédicte Kurzen (NOOR) pour la Fondation Carmignac
Hamburg is one of the main European marketplaces for used electronic and electrical appliances. In the middle of the night on Wednesdays and Saturdays, a diverse crowd of Africans, Germans, Maghribi, Roms and others, gather at the Bahrenfelder Trabrennbahn flea market to sell, buy, and exchange small quantities of goods, to be sent in a container along with much larger loads of electronics. Flea markets are the traditional places to buy those items, although the Internet has become an increasingly popular vector as well.
© Muntaka Chasant pour la Fondation Carmignac
© Muntaka Chasant pour la Fondation Carmignac
Simon Aniah, 24, a burner, is one of hundreds of young people who migrated from Vea, Upper East, to Accra for a job in e-waste work in order to achieve upward social mobility. Upper East has the highest unemployment rate among the 15-24 age group in Ghana (Ghana Census 2021).
© Muntaka Chasant pour la Fondation Carmignac
© Muntaka Chasant pour la Fondation Carmignac
In the outskirts of the Old Fadama slum in Accra, young men extract secondary raw materials from end-of-life e-waste, including printed circuit boards from telecommunication equipment and mobile phones, CPU processors, RAM chips, neodymium magnets, and other materials containing rare and precious metals. Some of the extracted materials are exported out of Ghana for precious metal recovery.
© Muntaka Chasant pour la Fondation Carmignac
© Muntaka Chasant pour la Fondation Carmignac
In the outskirts of the Old Fadama slum in Accra, young men extract secondary raw materials from end-of-life e-waste, including printed circuit boards from telecommunication equipment and mobile phones, CPU processors, RAM chips, neodymium magnets, and other materials containing rare and precious metals. Some of the extracted materials are exported out of Ghana for precious metal recovery.
© Muntaka Chasant pour la Fondation Carmignac
© Muntaka Chasant pour la Fondation Carmignac
In July 2021, the Ghana government violently demolished the Agbogbloshie scrapyard, the largest informal e-waste recycling site in Ghana. The demolition displaced thousands of workers, mostly from Ghana’s impoverished northern regions. E-waste practices went underground and closer to where people lived, like Old Fadama, a slum located close to the former scrapyard.
© Bénédicte Kurzen (NOOR) pour la Fondation Carmignac
© Bénédicte Kurzen (NOOR) pour la Fondation Carmignac
Zongo Lane is like Ali Baba’s cavern. Hundreds of small shops for all types of electronics populate the narrow street in this old Accra neighborhood. There are repairers and, often, parts sellers. Broken electronics get dismantled and reused. Ghanaians and Nigerians work here. This also used to be the marketplace for UEEE coming from Europe, but the narrow street didn’t allow the containers to park and offload without complicating traffic. In Europe, independent repairers have almost disappeared but here, an entire economic ecosystem survives on this craft.
© Bénédicte Kurzen (NOOR) pour la Fondation Carmignac
© Bénédicte Kurzen (NOOR) pour la Fondation Carmignac
Lapaz is the Accra neighborhood where containers offload their electronic devices and electrical appliances from all over the world, imported mostly by Ghanaian business people. There is a predominance of TV screens, which are an extremely popular item. Entire families are frequently involved in the business, some in Ghana and others living abroad and shipping containers loaded with UEEE (used electrical and electronical equipment). Goods are chosen based on the market demand.
© Muntaka Chasant pour la Fondation Carmignac
© Muntaka Chasant pour la Fondation Carmignac
E-waste sometimes provides opportunities for workshops for spare parts and repairs. In Old Fadama, Accra, informal repairers have learned to adapt end-of-life e-waste for different purposes. This includes repurposing electric motors from end-of-life air conditioners and washing machines for household ceiling fans.