From 1961 to 2002, Air Afrique was a pan-African airline known for its service and style. An extension of that style was its in-flight magazine, Balafon, which showcased the creative arts across Africa. In a tribute to the memory of its cultural impact, the newly formed Air Afrique collective is producing an annual publication, which will celebrate the latest and greatest in African diasporic culture. The visually-striking editorial, called “Scènes d’amour à Abidjan,” features a series of black-and-white compositions of the Ivorian capital in its contemporary emergence, its denizens impeccably stylish, and energized–if hesitant, in a way–by the feeling of being on the edge of something new. Beneath an image of two women standing in front of a dilapidated colonial-era building, Tusiama imagines one saying: “Abidjan is the city of ‘everything is said’ and ‘everything is known.’”
Why the In-Flight Magazine for an African Airline Shuttered in 2002 is a Must-Read Today
