African photography, textiles, fashion, architecture, sculpture and more in Philadelphia

Between the rehearsal dinner and the wedding of the son of a dear friend of mine whom I have known since he was a baby I drove into Philly just a short hour away from West Chester where we were staying .

My friend who knew of my interest in African art had told me there was an exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum. I was a little annoyed with myself for not knowing this already. Either the word does not get around enough about African art shows or there was something I was not doing despite being on Instagram, Facebook, and blogging on African art. Ugh! Keeping up theses days is a challenge! Maybe I was too distracted by a house project that takes me to the Luberon in France, I told myself.

Enough with that! The exhibition “Creative Africa” was a bit of a misnomer but in any case it was exhilarating. It was clearly divided spatially in five sections – photography, fashion, textiles, architecture and traditional African art – which felt like mini exhibitions. Visually it was engrossing: the displays were fantastic and easy to navigate. I could immerse myself into the manifestations of each medium and come out with a better understanding and appreciation of each artistic expression and perspective.

Holland Cotter of the New York Times wrote a praising review, which I encourage you to read. I will mostly focus on images here.

Here are some of the photographic works from Three Photographers/Six cities that caught my attention:

 

Seydou Camara from Mali who has been photographing ancient Islamic texts in Timbuktu since 2009. A trading post for centuries Timbuktu is a center of Islamic scholarship. Since the town has been overtaken by extremist these books have risked destruction.

 

Ananias Leki Dago, Soweto, 2008, from his series Shebeen Blues

 

Ananias Leki Dago, Bamako, 2006 from his series Bamako Crosses

 

Akinbode Akinbiyi, Lagos, 2003-4 from his series Lagos: All Roads. He captures the chaotic energy of Lagos.

 

Vlisco: “Africa Fashion on a Global Stage” which showed the many Dutch wax prints designed and made by Vlisco for the African and Diaspora markets was a visual treat. Risking the ire of many who feel that these Dutch wax prints are not truly representative of the Creative Africa, or authentically African and a product of the colonial history of the continent this exhibition unabashedly embraces the complex and global aspect of the production of African fashion. I for one have no problem with this. To me this aesthetic is truly representative of contemporary African taste.  I am of the post postcolonial mind where one accepts the bad and good of ones history and looks towards the future knowing that things are never simple. After all  European cubism  could not have come without the influence of African aesthetics. Picasso is deeply indebted to African sculpture. I am a mutt myself, my father having come from Bulgaria that was for 400 years under the rule of the Ottomans. But I am also American and grew up in France.  As a result I am not so attached to the idea of cultural authenticity. You can read more about the complex history of Dutch Wax print here.

 

Designer Inge Van Lierop 2016

Designer  Manish Arora 2016

This pattern is known as Love Bomb and Dynamite. In Togo it is known as Wounded Heart.

Conceived and made outside of Africa these prints that are designed for the taste of the African consumer, and once in Africa are named by the local African women who find inspiration for the names in proverbs, current events, religion and material culture. Once named the prints acquire social meaning.

Designer Nico Verbart. Title of fabric ” Chaussures de Yayi, Boni.” after President Yayi Boni

The Architecture of Francis Kere: Building for Community.

I left the saturated colors of the wax fabric for another engrossing and all embracing installation and just as colorful made out of parachute cord material by the architect Francis Kéré .

 

Grounding his work on the idea of community and shared space the layout of this soft structure here was arrived through taking into account the architectural grid of Philadelphia and the organic development of a Burkina Faso village. True to Francis Kéré’s belief, which reflect local belief that survival depends on the strength and unity of the community the exhibition was the result of a collaboration between Kéré Architecture, the Museum team and the UPenn undergraduates.

 

Followed a room full of photographs, architectural maquetttes, and videos recording Francis Kéré’s work in Africa, and in particular the construction of the Lycée Schorge School in Koudougou, Burkina Faso which was done without the use of heavy machinery. The emphasis was on the communal aspect of all the work done.