An Attitude of Mind: Reflections on Ujamaa

This complex artist book by Estella Tenga is a shining reflection on experience, identity, and what we owe both ourselves and each other in society. Interwoven narratives are printed on different qualities, colors and sizes of paper that are dynamically layered and arranged. Reading this book is a truly tactile and intimate experience.

Scattered throughout on inky black sheets are excerpts from the political manifesto “The Basis of African Socialism” written by Tanzania’s first president Julius Nyerere in 1962. Tenga’s own reflections, written over 60 years later, are printed on irregular and slightly unruly slips of cream paper.

The original version of this book (in a limited edition of only 6!) was Tenga’s final bachelor project at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts in 2024. It won Årets Vakreste Bøker (the year’s most beautiful books) for student work in 2025.

Edition of 100, Softcover, Spiral bound, Silkscreened translucent cover, 33 pages, 150 x 210 mm, 2025