This series focuses on traces of the hyperinflation that hit Zimbabwe in 2000s, mixing my analogue photographs of the area with archives of banknotes issued at the time.

In 2015, I travelled to Zimbabwe to see my father, who worked there, and we went on a road-trip. As the scenery was unfolding ahead of me, I noticed large empty billboards and I photographed them. I started there, and my intuition made me wonder why there were no images on these billboards.

I started researching and learned that Zimbabwe had experienced one of the worst global economic crises, due to hyperinflation resulting from a series of political decisions taken under the reign of Robert Mugabe, who took office in 1980. Swinging between the hope of a new world at the end of the apartheid regime and repressive policies against his opponents, Robert Mugabe changed the destiny of an entire country that was once the granary of southern Africa. Hyperinflation began in the early 2000s, and it continued to soar until 2008, when it reached its peak. Throughout this period, unhinged amounts of currency were printed in an attempt to halt the economic tsunami. Some of these notes even had expiry dates to encourage people to circulate the money.

The title of this series, “ONE HUNDRED TRILLION DOLLARS”, is the highest banknote I was able to find.

What happened in Zimbabwe is certainly the result of an economic, social and political context, but it is a striking example of what capitalism can produce in terms of the absurdity of the banking game.

The issue is still topical in Zimbabwe (to a lesser extent than in 2008). It is also a mechanism that characterizes other countries and continents, as is the case for parts of Latin America at the moment.

At this very moment, Zimbabwe is issuing a new gold-indexed currency in an attempt to stem the various episodes of inflation, the ZIG. This suject “One hundred trillion dollars” provides an insight into this decision.

I finalised this subject during a two-and-a-half-month residency/mentorship at the ENSP (École Nationale Supérieure de la Photographie) in Arles between February and May 2022, where I produced a book that is now in the ENSP library collection.

“ONE HUNDRED TRILLION DOLLARS” was shortlisted for the Dummy Award in Cologne, selected for the Photométria festival in Athens and the Belfast festival, and presented at the Revela’t festival in Barcelona.

Published by HÉMÉRIA
Paris, 2024
17 x 17 cm
128 pages

Chloé Nicosia’s participation in 9th SIPF 2024 is supported by