Côte d’Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa; and it is the first country I have ever visited in Africa — unless the stopover at the airport in Dakar in Senegal counts — while I was an undergraduate student working towards my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Communication Design at Parsons School of Design in New York.
Côte d’Ivoire or Ivory Coast. Sunday Morning Photograph.
The school once had a program long ago called Parsons in West Africa; and this was the inaugural trip there via an airline called Air Afrique. The program was so unique that it was featured in this article in The New York Times. I was so excited that I was going to visit Africa for the first time. I visited the cities of Abidjan, Grand-Bassam, Yamoussoukro, Bouake, and Korhogo — some of it while traveling for as many as 60 miles on dirt roads in a white van as a bush taxi with no air conditioning. A small token of the adventures I experienced are imparted in this article, which began my fascination with Africa.
For the photography aspect of the program of which I was a part, the instructor was the late LeRoy Woodson Jr., who was affectionately known as Woody. He was a staff writer and editor for National Geographic magazine; and he definitely brought out the best in the six or so students who were in the photography program. In total, only 37 students participated in this summer program for three weeks in July during its first year.
I have so many stories to tell and literally hundreds of photographs to show — plus actual audio of me speaking basic words to the Baoulé people in their native language. Otherwise, one person translated the native languages to French; and I wound up translating the French translation to English for the rest of the group. At least one village informed us that we were the first Americans to ever visit them. That is incredibly difficult to do today.
For the second year of the program, I was able to get a copy of the brochure, which I still have someplace. I thought one of the photographs in it looked familiar. The photograph shown above was used in the brochure and credited to me. I was both surprised and honored.
Final Boarding Call
I visited long before the country underwent political turmoil and unfortunately devolved into civil war. The people of Côte d’Ivoire or Ivory Coast were incredible hosts and welcomed us warmly. I cannot overstate how amazing was that experience for me — and I earned course credits towards completing my degree in the process. I have memories and souvenirs that are lasting me a lifetime.
The purpose of the weekly series of Sunday Morning Photograph articles is to feature photographs from my travels around the world which you can view while enjoying your morning coffee.
Please click here for a complete list of the Sunday Morning Photograph series of articles at The Gate With Brian Cohen, which include photographs taken of nature and sights of interest in many countries and territories around the world — including but not limited to:
Andorra • Argentina • Bahamas • Bahrain • Belarus • Brazil • Bulgaria • Canada • China • Chile • Colombia • Côte d’Ivoire or Ivory Coast • Cyprus — including the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus • Czechia or Czech Republic • Denmark • Dominican Republic • Egypt • England in Great Britain in the United Kingdom • Estonia • Finland • France • Germany • Hungary • Iceland • Ireland • Italy • Kenya • Latvia • Lebanon • Lesotho • Liechtenstein • Lithuania • Luxembourg • Malaysia • Morocco • Mozambique • Netherlands • Oman • Panama • Philippines • Poland • Portugal • Romania • Singapore • Slovenia • South Africa • South Korea • Spain • Swaziland or Eswatini • Sweden • Switzerland • Thailand • United Arab Emirates • United States of America • Uruguay
All photographs ©1984 by Brian Cohen.
