In 1958, American photographer Todd Webb was commissioned by the United Nations to photograph industrial progress in Africa. As Webb’s first large-scale colour photographs, these images present complex constructions of race and cultural identity during the transitional moment between colonialism and independence on the African continent. The nearly 2000 images from the trip have never been exhibited or published in their original format.

Rediscovered by the Todd Webb Archive in 2017, over 200 of these striking photographs are published here alongside contributions by both African and American scholars that engage the images in their historic and photographic moment.