A DOCUMENTARY
DIRECTED BY JEFF TOPHAM / PRODUCED BY MELANIE WOOD
(WATCH NOW ON KNOWLEDGE NETWORK)
For Jeff Topham and his brother Andrew, 70s Liberia was a childhood paradise of endless beaches, thick jungle - even a pet chimp. Their father worked for Exchem, a Canadian company that made explosives for the Liberian mining industry. He also took thousands of photographs - extensively recording not only an ex-pat family’s extraordinary African experience, but also unknowingly documenting a country and a people on the edge of destruction.
A bloody coup d’etat and two brutal civil wars would soon devastate the nation.
30 years later, and now both photographers themselves, Jeff and Andrew return to Liberia to revisit and re-shoot their childhood Eden. But what starts as a personal journey, exploring the connection between memory and photography, quickly evolves into something they didn’t expect.
In searching for the truth behind the characters in their father’s photos, their former housekeeper James, and their pet chimpanzee Evelyn, the brothers discover more than just memories. Three decades later, the people - and the chimps - are still there, and seemingly waiting for their return.
It also becomes clear that their father’s photos are far more than just family snapshots of an idyllic ex-pat childhood. For a people whose happy memories - and photographs - have been destroyed by war, the images also offer a rare proof of a once peaceful and prosperous country, and hope for a brighter future.
Liberia '77 is an African adventure for us all - an exploration of the universal importance of photography in defining our lives. The Topham brothers’ new images of Liberia offer an unforgettable portrait of how connection and responsibility can survive time, distance and war.