I think it's unfair to equate wanting the fantasized imagery to stop with wanting to be seen only in terms of colonialism. In fact, I'd argue that the images created without attention to the realities on the continent are a direct result of colonialism. https://twitter.com/ShiroThenya/status/1277722261001244675

Colonialism was enabled and justified with the creation of fantastical ideas about Africa/Africans. And since then, people have been creating whatever images they want of Africa and Africans to fit whatever purpose they have at the time

When people want to deride Africans, Africa becomes a shit hole. When people want to celebrate Africans, Africa becomes a utopia stuck in a certain time. When ppl want to talk about poverty, Africa is full of starving kids. When ppl want to talk about wealth it's full of mansions

And perhaps the reimaginings would be less talked about if we had many opportunities to portray Africans and African cultures. But we don't. Not on a global scale anyway. So when the few projects that are global are created by and for ppl in the GN and are often unrealistic....

... It becomes tiring. Not to say that all the ppl making images are colonizers. But that the constant projection on the continent and its people are a result of colonialism erasing Africans as owners of the continent, its histories, and the knowledges connected to the land