The Famished Road

The Photographer, unnamed save for his occupation, is a recurring figure throughout the novel. He represents the rapid pace of change coming to the village, the encroachment of modernity, and the dangers of documentation. When Azaro first encounters the Photographer, he is frightened by the technology: “When the camera flashed, followed by an odd explosion, ghosts emerged from the light and melted, stunned, at his [the Photographer’s] feet. I screamed. The crowd laughed” (45). The Photographer appears as some sort of sorcerer, conjuring ghosts with the magic of his camera; he is capturing souls in his pictures, not just faces. The collision between modern technology and indigenous spirituality echoes the thematic tensions between so-called progress and the natural world. Later, the Photographer claims to have taken “pictures of a policeman taking bribes” (232); thus, he is chased and under threat of imprisonment (or worse) for his transgression. However, he claims he escaped by using “[m]agic” and that he has “a lot of powers” (232), such as invisibility. Again, modern technology and magical notions overlap in a kind of syncretism of cultural attitudes.

That scene also reveals the danger inherent to the Photographer’s mission. Corrupt regimes and unethical politicians do not often condone the recording of the facts on the ground, as it were; they are frequently the enemies of the truth.