Last call: Mostly the post-colonial world is a picture of decay as the once-grand outposts of European empires crumble under neglect, civil war, dust, mold and jungle vines. But while the sociopolitical picture may not be pretty, the gritty reality is compelling in more than 40 photos that South African photographer Guy Tillim presents as big snapshots of Africa today. They are large (3 feet tall and more than 4 feet wide) and their psychological scope has a strange, melancholy beauty as civil servants and others -- refugees, warlords, the poor, the struggling, the aspiring middle class -- occupy and repurpose the homes, offices and apartment towers of their country's colonial past. The 2007 image shown here was taken in "City Hall, Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo." (Ends Jan. 6, free. Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, 333 East River Pkwy., Mpls. 612-625-9494 or www.weisman.umn.edu)
about the writer
MARY ABBE, Star Tribune
The "winners" have all been Turkeys, no matter the honor's name.
