Five young African photographers capture the communities living, adapting and resisting in a changing climate.
16 September 2026
From the shores of Lake Victoria to the informal settlements of Soweto, ‘Lines of Survival: Living, Adapting, Imagining Tomorrow’ brings together five emerging photographic voices documenting the realities of climate change across Africa.
Presented by The Africa Center and Africa Soft Power, the exhibition features the winning and finalist works of the 2026 Africa Soft Power Climate Storytelling Fellowship & Photo Essay Prize. South African photographer Mpumelelo Buthelezi, this year’s Overall Winner, presents E’Plazini: A Place to Call Home for Waste Collectors, a portrait of waste pickers navigating life in Soweto’s Dryhook informal settlement.
He is joined by Kevin Ochieng Onyango, Vanessa Mulondo, Brian Ongoro, and Nicolas Vava, whose photographic essays trace drought, flooding, changing livelihoods, and coastal erosion across Kenya, Tanzania, and Togo.
Together, these works move beyond the statistics of climate crisis, offering intimate accounts of resilience, ingenuity and the ongoing work of imagining a future. Opening during UNGA81 and Climate Week NYC, ‘Lines of Survival’ brings African perspectives into urgent global conversations about what comes next.
This exhibition is on view at the Africa Center in New York from 17 September until 1 November 2026.
