Jan Hoek

The Maasai tribe is one of the most photographed tribes across Africa, but pictures of them that cross the world are almost always from Western photographers who show a cliché like vision of the traditional jumping Maasai. ‘My Maasai’ is a photo publication in which photographers from Eastern Africa show their vision on the Maasai. It shows pictures of a rapper Maasai, a pilot Maasai, a lesbian Maasai, Maasai architecture, a female Maasai God and much more. This books fights the stereotype image of the jumping Maasai and shows at the same time why African photographers are so much better in photographing the topics in their own region.

‘My Maasai’ is an initiative of Jan Hoek, in collaboration with Kenyan based photographers; Sarah Waiswa (Uganda), Joel Lukhovi (Kenya), Mohammed Althoum (Sudan) as well as students of the De-Capture Limited School of Photography.

Selected for the Athens Photobook Festival.