Culture | Happening Africa

1-54 Fair Panel discussion: The Cinematic eye of West African photographer Paul Kodjo

isabelwilcox — Tue, 09 Apr 2019 20:56:00 +0000

Please join the panel discussion

At 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair

The Cinematic eye of West African photographer Paul Kodjo: The Ivorian Miracle in the 1970’s

Saturday May 4, 2019, 6:30 – 7:30pm

Forum Room/1-54 at Industria, 775 Washington Street, New York City

Panelists:

Ananias Leki Dago (photographer and founder of Les Rencontres du Sud)

Antawan Byrd (art historian and assistant curator of photography at the Art Institute of Chicago).

Moderator:

Claude Grunitzky (media and culture entrepreneur, founder of TRACE and the media platform TRUE Africa).

During this panel, we will look at what makes Paul Kodjo’s photographic practice different from other West African studio photographers of the same period. Ananias Leki Dago has worked for the last ten years at preserving Kodjo’s photographic archive and will describe the artist’s journey, while Antawan Byrd will speak of Kodjo’s cinematic approach and aesthetic engagement with visual art and popular media, in particular the photo-novel. Claude Grunitzky will bring his own experience with popular media while highlighting this unique record of Abidjan being reshaped by social cultural changes and modernist design and architecture.

To register click on the link

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Abidjan in the 1970’s: Paul Kodjo photographs the Ivorian Miracle.

isabelwilcox — Thu, 21 Mar 2019 10:37:00 +0000

For the first time in the last 14 years a year has elapsed since I have set foot on the African continent. Health issues got in the way of my travels, however my engagement with African art has not waned. Indeed during the past year I have been discovering the 1970’s photographic work of Paul Kodjo from Abidjan, in the Ivory Coast. I am about to fly out to Abidjan to meet the artist who is now in his 80’s. I will be there when he signs the photographs that I have bought and discover the city!

The first time I saw Kodjo’s black and white photographs I found them immediately compelling.

Working within the tradition of African traditional studio photography but pushing its boundaries, Kodjo photographed his subjects outside of the studio in staged modern domestic indoors and in the streets of Abidjan, creating a unique record of Abidjan during the years of the economic boom of the early post-independence years. While blurring the lines between the real and the imaginary Kodjo used a cinematic approach and introduced movement and dramatic tensions drawing the viewer into his subjects lives: their relationships and emotions. These carefully crafted scenes echo the shifting social and familial dynamics against the backdrop of renewal of the urban landscape shaped by modernist design and architecture. But they also speak to the city dweller’s aspirations.

I first responded to the emotional aspect which I feel is lacking in some of contemporary photography which is more focused on the surface aesthetic and loved the sets and his talent as a portraitist.

Then as I learned about his practice which also includes photojournalism, fashion and event photography, and the condition under which these images had been brought recently to the public I was hooked!

So hooked that I will now be showing Paul Kodjo’s works from my collection at the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair in New York city, May 2-5, 2019. I have now turned into a curator ( with the help of curator Lydie Diakhate). The exhibition will be complemented by a panel on Saturday May 4th on Kodjo’s work. The panelists are Ananias Lèki Dago (photographer from Abidjan and Founder of Les Rencontres du Sud) ) and Antawan Byrd (art historian and assistant curator of Photography at the Art Institute of Chicago) . The moderator is Claude Grunitzky (Founder of TRACE magazine and TRUE Africa) .

It was through Ananias Lèki Dago, photographer and founder of Les Rencontres du Sud ( a photographic platform in Ivory Coast in support of Ivoirian photography) , that I first came across Paul Kodjo’s work. In 2008 Paul Kodjo had asked Ananias to take on his photographic archive. It was a mixed blessing. It was an honor, as Kodjo had been one of the preeminent photographers of the 1970’s in Abidjan, but a huge challenge as the negatives were in very bad conditions due to terrible climatic conditions, and economic and political instability.

“ On the day [I] returned to Abidjan, I saw a boy carrying a large trunk on his head walking towards me. When he reached me, he put his burden down at my feet. It was Paul who had sent him. I still remember the shivers that went down my spine when he opened the trunk and I saw the roaches, spiders, and other insects, all too alive, scuttle away from their hiding places. I put my hand on the pile of negatives and old prints damaged by humidity. ….In the end, I agreed to be responsible for taking care of Paul Kodjo’s archive.”

Ananias took the archive to Paris where the negatives were then shielded from the negative effects of the humidity but it took a few years before he had the time and the money to be able to fully start the preservation process with the help of the printer, Toros. By 2018 Ananias was able to show portions of the archive to the Musèe du Quai Branly in Paris who bought a selection. The photographs are not vintage but contemporary prints made from this archive. As a result a few show signs of this history, others look totally pristine. As an art historian by training I liked those traces of history. There is so much artistic work that has vanished in Africa and the history of its artistic production is still in the making.

Ananias send me a whole lot of information. I discovered that Kodjo was one of the few at the time that had sought formal training in photography: He had followed a correspondence course with the New York Institute of Photography when he was quite young and then continued his formal training in photography and cinematography in Paris in the late sixties.

He was the first in the Ivory Coast and possibly (?) in West Africa to turn to popular media for the production and dissemination of his photographic production. He adopted the roman-photo or photo-novel, which was published in the national periodical Ivoire Dimanche with broad popular exposure.

I did research of my own spending hours at Northwestern Herkovits library and the New York Schomburg library where I found copies of the periodical Ivoire Dimanche which include Paul Kodjo’s roman-photos (photo-novels). Not only did I read the roman-photos but also read many articles that spoke of marriage ( infidelity, monogamy, polygamy,) shifting aspirations, women and men at work which are all subjects raised in Kodjo’s roman-photos.

Paul Kodjo worked in photography, in cinema; he also was an actor ( there is a wonderful picture of him playing the role of a woman in a play) and a musician.

Kodjo embraced contemporaneity in a way that artists do today in terms of culture, technology, and media. He deserves his rightful place in the pantheon of West African photographers.

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ARTAFRICA magazine reports on the first ACASA triennial 2017 on African soil.

isabelwilcox — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 19:53:01 +0000

Article from ARTAFRICA : Continental Shift and Generational Drift. Arts Council of African Studies Association ( ACASA) update on its latest triennial in 2017 in Ghana.

Valerie Kabov writes:

“While in the global spotlight at present African contemporary art is still in the territory of achieving some ‘firsts’. This past August, Arts Council for African Studies Association (ACASA)’s Triennial conference in Africa, “the only mega association… totally dedicated to the arts of Africa [and] a membership of art historians, scholars, curators, artists, dealers and gallerists, and friends of African art” held its first Triennial conference on the continent, in Accra and an opportunity to reflect on changing dynamics in African art scholarship.

ACASA Triennial participants were a veritable who’s who of scholarship on African art: Sidney Kasfir, Susan Vogel, Ray Siverman, Jean Borgatti, and heads and senior curators of major museums collections, such as Karen E. Milburne of the Smithsonian, Sylvester Ogbechie of UC Santa Barbara, Chika Okeke Agulu, Ugochukwu-Smooth Nzewi, as well as some leading Africa-based scholars and practitioners such as Atta Kwami, Samuel Sidibe (Musée National du Mali), Bongani Ndhlovu (Iziko Museums of South Africa) and Ciraj Rassool (University of the Western Cape).

The immense programme delivered more than 80 panels and round tables covering topics ranging from museum studies, archaeology, photography and textile design, as well as anthropology, Afrofuturism and gender politics, with topic such as: Neither Temple nor Forum: What is a National Museum in Africa? The Politics of Abstract and Conceptual African and African Diasporic Art; New Perspectives on Feminism and Gender Studies: South Africa and Beyond; African Art: Philosophy Made Visual; Photography and Mass Media in Africa; and African Utopias; Afrofuturism; Afropolitanism: Imagining and Imaging African Futures.

Importantly ACASA facilitated record participation of Africa based scholars, close to 200 out of over 400. The conference was also supported by a rich programme of events such as visits to artists’ studios and galleries (Nabuke Foundation/Dorothy), Ablade Glover’s Artist Alliance, Serge Ottokwey Clottey, Yaw Awusu), as well as evening events, such as as BlackXlines annual exhibition, ‘Orderly Disorderly’ at the Science Museum, featuring works from over 100 Ghanain artists and a vernissage at the 1957 Gallery. Organisationally the African ACASA was an impressive success. As ACASA President, Shannen Hill puts it:

“I’ve attended many Triennials and I can say without reservation that Accra offered many options to our members that were not available in other Triennials.”

Elspeth Court, Senior Lecturer at School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) London concurred that:

“A combination of factors… made the week special: the location of the Triennial on the leafy, historical Legon campus of the University of Ghana, outstanding plenary sessions (with presentations by two continental colleagues with whom I have worked, Lagat Kiprop and Atta Kwami), an extensive programme.This ACASA experience was profound because it affirmed more than past Triennials, what I take as ‘African art’ with collegiality being the essential element.

… rather than envision future impacts associated with ACASA’s ‘African participation’, what was noticeable at the 17th ACASA was the increase in presentations concerning partnerships and/or projects between European/American and African, continental colleagues, such as the British Museum and the national museums of Kenya, Iwalewa Haus and Makerere Art School, Ray Silverman on local museums. These would seem robust examples of ongoing transnational collaborations.”

I hope that by being too exposed to what is happening on the continent, there will be a gradual change within the body.

Importance of collaboration was echoed by Odile Tevie, the founder and director of the Nubuke Foundation in Accra:

“I hope that by being to exposed to what is happening on the continent, there will be a gradual change within the body. Hosting the conference in Ghana is a start.

They may be very removed from our reality, but they also commission a lot of research and resources, which we need in our work. So we have to seek new collaborations.

In 2013/14, the Nubuke Foundation worked with the University of Amherst, Massachusetts, on a project to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of WEB Du Bois … Amherst has a large collect of his writings, letters and memorabilia. So, projects like these should be typical collaborations which will forge new productions and relationships between institutions….”

The resourcing and financial clout of ACASA’s institutionally based members was, quite a contrast to many scholars based on the continent operating on a shoestring and often in relative isolation.

Also striking to contemporary art scholars was the historical cross-disciplinary approach, in which anthropology and art history are almost merged, with many of the older generation scholars starting their careers by doing ‘field work’ in African villages in late 1960s and 1970s, making ACASA “… a late-comer to the currents of contemporary art on the continent because of its focus on traditional academic scholarship in African art until recently.”

While a conservative platform, for Smooth, ACASA remains “a very important platform for the dissemination of the arts of Africa and related information, and a very critical anchor in that ecosystem because of the diversity of its membership. Its triennial conference is very important in shaping debates and discourses of African art from the historical to the contemporary.”

This formulation was not necessarily satisfactory for younger African scholars, like Accra-based Bernard Akoi-Jackson, a lecturer, curator and artist based in Accra, and one of the curators of ‘Orderly Disorderly’ who felt that “[ACASA] continues to broach a very anthropological/ethnographic approach to art in Africa. Many …discussions were still heavily rooted in ethnography, even if it is of contemporary phenomena. There is an urgent need for the discourses to change, [and]… as a contemporary artist/curator/writer, I feel our work still receives misinterpretation based on the obviously anthropological bent of scholarship within ACASA…. This stance tends to largely influence academia on the continent to approach art emanating from the continent and its Diaspora as ethnic curiosities.”

Vu Michelle Horwitz, a young art historian based at Wits University, also noted that, “the very fact that the platform exists, and was as open to scholars based on the continent as it was, was a good sign for going forward” however, the scope of discussions privileged “funding and other interests that dominate the field … There is much in need of critical overdoing.”

Horwitz pointed to the elephant in the room, that the leading African art scholar association in the world is American and not African, arguing for “far less US representation: which is not to say no Americans, but it is wrong that their voices took up the most space, and held the most importance in the eyes of conference organisers. There should also be more and better funding for non-US attendees. And perhaps a little more (free)(actual) art and experiences with art makers and consumers in the host country.”

Elspeth Court also highlighted the skew of African participation largely to scholars “from some 10 countries, mostly Anglophone west and east Africa, and that whole areas were missing, such as the Horn, although Ethiopia and Sudan have active schools of art with art historians.”

… our area of research remains in the shadow of a history of epistemological imbalance and violence.

Looking at what the Accra experience means for ACASA and its Triennials going forward, Ruth Simbao, based at Rhodes University, South Africa, and veteran of four Triennials, felt that despite these issues the Accra conference:

“… registers a broader shift in the centre of gravity in terms of knowledge-creation in the visual arts, particularly the arts of Africa and the Global South. The significantly higher number of Africa-based scholars …played an important role in strengthening discussions…. [their] scholarly conversations were pivotal to the Triennial, whereas in past ACASA conferences, the few panels that were led by Africa-based scholars tended to remain somewhat peripheral to the broader discussions. This shift is critical, and concerted effort needs to be made to retain it.

… if ACASA, as an organisation, desires to remain relevant to shifts in the discourse of the arts of Africa, then it is essential for the Triennial to be hosted on the African continent regularly, and for more Africa-based scholars (from various regions) to be involved in leadership positions in ACASA. I have been thinking about the idea of ‘epistemologies of reciprocity’ and I think we need to build more meaningful and rigorous reciprocity between various spaces of knowledge-creation, as our area of research remains in the shadow of a history of epistemological imbalance and violence.”

While Smooth showed optimism for an African home for ACASA “… I would hope that after successfully hosting its first Triennial conference in Africa, that this would become more of the rule rather than the exception … and will principally place Africa at the core of the field of African art rather than what it currently and primarily serves: as a site of study. This is because ACASA is the most equipped for such intellectual work than any organisation, old and new, out there.”

For Shannen Hill, while desirable, the home for the ACASA Triennial in Africa is a matter of finance:

“We would very much like to organise a conference on the continent again …but first we need to recoup costs. To give you a sense of this: the 2011 Triennial was hosted at UCLA and cost about $65 000…; the 2014 Triennial was held at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and cost about $100,000…; the 2017 Triennial at the University of Ghana-Legon cost $200,000…. For 2020, we need to …think carefully …and make decisions that secure the organisation’s ability to continue to grow and expand in ways that don’t break the bank.”

While finances are a crucial consideration for a US-based body, they cannot be for African scholars. As Dean of the Faculty of Art at KNUST, Edwin Kwesi Bodjawah, puts it: “hosting the conference in Africa brought together more art professionals from the continent than any other time to deliberate on issues related to African Art. This might seem quite belated, but it is important it happened. Hopefully, the continent would begin to host most critical platforms of Contemporary Art of Africa. The challenge is how to network all progressive initiatives on the continent and how information can be shared in real time.”

Perhaps unintentionally the most important conversation, which the 17th Triennial has helped to consolidate, is a conversation among African scholars about the need to take responsibility for development and the future of African art scholarship as an issue which, unequivocally, must be resolved by African scholars and with Africans in mind, of course in collaboration with international scholars, partners and friends.”

Valerie Kabov is an art historian with a focus on cultural policy and economics. She is the co-founder and Director of education and International Projects at First Floor Gallery Harare.

Featured Image: ACASA Triennial 2017, Accra Ghana

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“Afriques Capitales” at Parc de la Villette in Paris

isabelwilcox — Thu, 04 May 2017 15:30:41 +0000

My next stop was the exhibition Afriques Capitales curated by Simon Njami at the Parc de La Villette in Paris running from March 29, 2017 to May 28, 2017. The selection was very much based on Simon’s selection from last year Biennale de Dakar . For those who had not seen it it was a lot of new work. The installation was a bit too theatrical though and some images too over blown. However I liked that it was accessible to a broader section of the local Parisian population.

Salon designed by Hassan Hajjaj ash entrance including his photographic work.

Labyrinth by Youssef Limoud, and the upside hanging house by Pascale Marthine Tayou

Photographic installation Ouakam Fractals by Simon Baloji

Safaa Mazirh, Sans titre, Maroc

Safaa Mazirh

Joel Andrianomearisoa,

Mimi Cherono Ng’ok

William Kentridge, a wonderful installation/film.

Outside in the park some of the photographs were displayed for all to see.

Aida Mulaneh,

Mario Macilau.

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Kuona trust: A collective model to teaching art in Nairobi

isabelwilcox — Fri, 04 Nov 2016 17:59:53 +0000

A collective approach to teaching art in Nairobi, Kenya.

After my meeting with at ARTLabAFrica with artist Beatrice Wanjiku and David Thuku, I went with David to check out Kuona Trust which I had heard so much about and where David had a studio space. Set in a green part of town the artists’ studios are housed in long metal sheds/ hangars organized around a central gathering area. Most artists share small studios. Indeed David Thuku shares his space with another artist. I asked him if they got in each other’s way but he said no. They each have their corner. He works mostly from a large table set in the corner of the room.

These are open studios and I found the artists either working away in a variety of mediums – Dennis Muraguri was welding metal for one of his mixed media sculptures – many were painting or milling around and chatting with each other. It was very informal and congenial. Some had held a studio for close to ten years, others were newcomers. Here artists are mentored, and Kuona Trust provides support, ressources and opportunities to experiment. There are technical workshops taught by senior artists, internships, residencies, and rented studio spaces. Artists sell their work from the studios and often are commissioned work.

Since art and art education sadly were never priorities for the Kenyan government – it was eliminated from the primary schools – and formal art training at the college level only happens at either Kenyatta University or the Buru Buru Institute of art most art teaching happens in workshops. This dates as far back as the 80’s. Kuona Trust is very much a reflection of that collaborative tradition and was instrumental in the development of the model.

Kuona Trust is part of the Triangle Arts Trust, which had been set up by Anthony Caro and Robert Loder in 1982 in England to create networks of artists, visual art organizations and artist led workshops in over 30 countries. It had the mission to “counterbalance the tendency of the Western art world to put the emphasis on the object and its marketing rather than on the creative process itself.”

“ It was particularly successful in Africa” says Danda Jaroljmek, director of Circle Art Agency. “ It started off in South Africa where there was little connection between black and white artists and then it spread. Artists would go back to their home countries and say: ‘I want to do this as well!’ It was an extraordinary forum, I loved that it was artists doing it. It was not curators or collectors dictating who could get opportunities but it was artists talking to each other.”

Some other workshops worth noting are the Wasanii workshops, which happened during the 1990’s to 2011. In those workshops Kenyan artists would meet artists from around the world. Twenty-five artists – half from the host country half from around the world – would work together for 2 weeks in a remote place. Finally but no less important are the workshops led by the Kuona Trust artists that are held in the local communities where they teach art to the youth.

I liked this feeling of community and exchange. I also like that artists despite the lack of governmental support are out there helping themselves and others and are determined to make art a game changer.

Sadly since I wrote the first draft of this essay things have changed for the worse. Because of budgetary problems and lack of funding Kuona Trust is closing. It is very disappointing news but knowing the resilience and determination of some people in Nairobi I am optimistic that some new platform will take shape.

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African art at the Philadelphia Museum

isabelwilcox — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 11:15:16 +0000

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.

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LIONESSES OF AFRICA

isabelwilcox — Mon, 22 Feb 2016 21:29:54 +0000

Aissa Dione, textile designer

Read about the LIONESSES OF AFRICA. It is a community passionate about women entrepreneurship in Africa and supports the start up dreams of all women on the continent.

Adele Dejak, jewelry designer from Kenya

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Zina Saro-Wiwa’s Mangrove Banquet at the Blaffer Museum

isabelwilcox — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 22:08:01 +0000

Creativity, fecundity and the magical: Zina celebrates the women from the Niger Delta.

Barely back from Lagos I turn around and fly to Houston not too thrilled about being on a plane again but very much looking forward to attending Zina Saro-Wiwa’s Mangrove Banquet at the Blaffer Museum where she is having her first solo show in the US. As she eloquently tells us “ this banquet is in honor of her father Ken Saro -Wiwa, in honor of Ogoniland in the Niger Delta and especially in honor of all the undervalued labor women of the Niger Delta put into farming the land.” “ This banquet celebrates the bounty of the Niger Delta, the other bounty that is not petroleum. It affirms fertility, female farm labor, and celebrates creativity, fecundity and the magical.”

I was soon to be immersed in the scents and flavors of the foods from the Niger Delta.

It was my first time at the Blaffer Museum and only my second time in Houston. In fact the last time I had been in Houston was to see the exhibition The Progress of Love at the De Mesnil Collection where Zina was showing her video Eaten By The Heart.

I walked in not knowing anyone beside Zina but after a few sips of her magic potion or Bespoke cocktail – Lumene Lemongrass Fizz (Rhum Agricole with Pineapple and Lemongrass Syrup topped with Soda) Kuru’s Cure All – I was ready to work the room as one says!

Tables had been laid out in the back garden. Pineapples dipped in gold paint standing as symbols of welcome decorated the table and napkins designed by Zina and printed by Pamela Cyri-Edgware from Port Harcourt added some bright color to an overall white and gold scheme. Zina loves Pamela’s fabrics and is an enthusiastic supporter and buyer of her work. I discovered all of this on Instagram by the way.

With the help of Benjy Mason’s great cooking team she brought the flavors, scents, and ingredients from West Africa to our table. Zina had spend weeks planning this from afar and had brought back in her suitcase scent leaf syrup and curry leaf oil that she had made in Port Harcourt. At her arrival in Houston she had joined Benjy’s team and scoured the local West African supermarkets on the Southwest side of Houston, which in fact carry African produce grown by people from Congo in the Gulf!

She was thrilled to find scent leaves, which she used as garnish. Furthermore “ they added a herby quality to the hibiscus broth! “ she said.

Every dish was a discovery: All the guests were soon engrossed in the novelty of the ingredients, and the myriad of flavors Zina had put together for us.

APPETIZER

Egusi Deviled Egg (I never say no to a deviled egg even if it is bad for my cholesterol!)

STARTER

Cold-Smoked Snapped cured and smoked in Zina’s Invisible Man Tree Bark, served with carrot Ribbons and Curry Leaf Aioli. (It all sounded mysterious especially this Invisible Man Tree Bark)

SOUP

Hibiscus broth (I loved the texture of the slightly chewy things that were floating in the broth. She called them periwinkles and that really confused me because in my book periwinkle is a flower. I soon found out how ignorant I was: Periwinkle is also a small edible sea snail. It was delicious!)

ENTREMETS

Palm wine and Alomo bitters Granita

Hand-washing in warm water and shea butter soap (I did not have to wash my hands since I had yet to loose my inhibitions and eat with my fingers)

ENTRÉE (to be eaten by hand!)

Wood-Roasted Red Snapper stuffed with mustard leaf dressed in palm oil. Crayfish and coconut dressing, served with pounded Avocado and Roasted Sweet Plantain. (It took me awhile before I got over internal voices telling me I should not use my hands and reached out and grabbed the side of the fish with my fingers and stuffed it into my mouth!)

DESSERT

Poached Guava with Scent Leaf Syrup

Alligator Pepper Ice Cream

Crushed and Toasted Chin Chin.

Through out the meal Tyres Donnett’s masked performance with a mortar and pestle from Nigeria reminded us of the women of the Niger Delta who work the land and bring and prepare food for their families.

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African Design at the Vitra Design Museum

isabelwilcox — Fri, 24 Jul 2015 11:22:35 +0000

Breaking new ground: Contemporary Design from Africa.

Life has changed a bit recently and I am reconnecting with my French past. I now spend some time during the summer months in a cute little bergerie nestled on a hill at the foot of the Luberon mountains. Surrounded by olive trees growing on terraces and with breathtaking views of the ruins of a medieval village perched on a hill adjacent to the dramatic gorge of the Petit Luberon I forget art for a moment and embrace nature’s wildness.

From there I drove to Basel for the art fair and had the unexpected pleasure to learn that there was an exhibition of African design at the Vitra Design Museum right over the border in Germany. The exhibition was curated internally with the help of guest curator Okwi Enwesor, also curator of the Venice Biennale. It challenges traditional expectations of African design that usually focuses on craft and artisanal objects.

In the words of Koyo Kouoh, founding director of Raw Material Company the exhibition studies “ the interrelated relationship between fashion, film, art, performance, music, industrial and product design, with internet and new media being the key reason for the seismic shift in the cultural landscape of Africa. “ There is a strong sense that design must contribute to the life of a place and the focus of design has shifted to become socially oriented.

In the richly informative catalogue of the exhibition Okwui Enwezor encourages the viewers to look at Africa through different lenses.

“The exhibition does not strive to present a complete picture of design in Africa. What the exhibition offers instead is a new story, one perhaps not known. It is one possibility among many for looking at Africa and an invitation in this regard to consider a wholly new perspective.”

While some veteran artists are included the focus is on the young generation (Africa has a huge youth population), its energy, entrepreneurial spirit, its concern with the contemporary and the potential of urban spaces, and shared virtual/digital spaces. There is an atmosphere of awakening among artists in cities like Nairobi, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Lagos, Dakar, etc. Intent on correcting the idea favored by the Global North that Africa is a place of despair, the curators highlighted the burst of creativity that is happening as a result of the advent of the digital boom. I remembered a time six years ago when it was thought that places like Kenya had little to show for itself in terms of creativity. Sixteen creative ventures coming out of Kenya are represented in the exhibition! Things have come a long way!

Conveying that bustling field was not an easy matter as a lot of it is virtual such as apps, blogs, and websites. The curatorial team created an aesthetically pleasing and highly informative exhibition tightly weaving technology with more object based works such as models, photographs, maps, sculptures, and clothes.

Divided into four parts (Prologue, I and We, Space & Object and Origin & Future) Making Africa challenges the idea of a one Africa with a new local perspective, new shared virtual spaces, an approach to urban life and architecture truly its own, and embrace of tradition while looking to the future in object based work.

The exhibition opened with the work of Kenyan artist, Cyrus Kabiru’s C- Stunners that illustrate vividly this idea of shift of perspective. We need to change our way of seeing the continent, its people and lives and learn to listen: in the background I hear the voices of acclaimed thinkers speaking of Africa. Kabiru creates these extraordinary “eyeglasses” out of found objects and photographs himself wearing them.

People’s perceptions of “Africanness”s is further challenged in the work of Kudzanai Chiurai Popular Mechanics whose portraits parody the traditional genre of heroic images and exposes the corruptive aspect of power

Justin Dingwall’s photographic diptych Albus of a black albino model that question the idea of black and whiteness.

The second section was like a huge database of personal blogs, computer games, Youtube videos of a partying youth culture, apps, crowd sourcing digital maps and wonderful photographs and prints.

I would recommend checking out the following sites, which provide a very useful database of African artists.

Internet portals such as Africa Digital Arts, Afrikadaa, Art Base Africa.

Browse the following apps and blogs:

Oju Emoticon App

Anakle (Bride Price App)

Izihothane

Photographer Jody Brand’s blog: Chomma provides a window on a youth culture concerned with the here and now.

Men’s Fashion has its place with the fondness of the famous Sapeurs de Brazzaville for colorful, and dandy like outfits. Hector Mediavilla (Allurex and his socks, 20003)

Chris Saunders from The Smarteez series. Saunders follows the creative process of four designers from Soweto (Kebi, Sibu, Floyd, and Thabo).

Daniele Tamagni from Botswana Afrometals photographic series (2012) shows a youth culture that has merged tradition and the international metal scene.

Hassan Hajjaj photographic series L.V.Posses of young Moroccan women in headscarves on motorbikes also fuses traditional Islam with western luxury (Louis Vuitton logo).

MISWude Waxology is the product of the cooperation between jewelry and fashion brand MISWude and photographer Fabrice Monteiro.

I loved Leanie van der Vyver video Scary beautiful where a young woman wearing absurd shoes struggles to walk in an awkward performance.

The next section (Space and Object) focuses on living spaces. It is about architecture, urban life and includes virtual spaces such as maps and apps that have been created to contend with a lack of infrastructure and that have profoundly changed the life of people.

The inclusion of the M-Pesa (Safaricom), a mobile money transfer that has revolutionized the way people pay for things in Kenya and now the world is a good indication of how forward looking this exhibition is. Creative thinking is increasingly finding its outlet in the creation of these new ways of living and working. It leads me to confirm this idea that I have recently discussed with an art dealer friend that the new avant-garde contemporary art will not be object oriented but increasingly virtual.

Map Kibera, a digital map is based on this idea of shared economies that are changing social spaces. This digital map of the largest slum in Nairobi includes information on security, water, sanitation, health, education, citizen journalism, and advocacy through blogs.

The photographic work of Michael Subotzky and Patrick Waterhouse Ponte City captures the lives of the residents of the Ponte City skyscraper that was once a luxury building. Now in total disrepair communities of poor black people inhabit it. For over two years they took photos of every window, apartment door and TV set in building and created a mosaic-like snapshot.

Justin Plunkett’s Con/Struct is a great shot! A vertical slum, a metaphor for a “piled-up dream” withstands gravity.

James Muriuki“s Undefined Constructions:SeriesI

Fabrice Monteiro’s photographic series The Prophet is as beautiful as much as they are disturbing. In transforming the ugly into the beautiful these surrealist images call attention to the dangers of environmental pollution.

I was happy to see the work of Tahir Carl Karmali Jua Kali included. In homage to Jua kali craftsmen who make things out of recycled material Karmali took pictures of garbage pieces to create these collages and combined them with photos of the craftsmen.

Tahir Carl Karmali, Dennis Muraguri, Tonney Mugo’s Jua Kali City. A collective project, and made from found objects these wheels are metaphors for the formal and informal economies.

I liked the table made out of glass, steel and ceramics Docks table by Imiso Ceramics reflecting the checkered urban space that is Woodstock, Cape Town.

Porky Hefer’s Humanest reminded me of weaver nests that I see each time I walk the Kenyan bush.

Dominique Petot’s armchair Meridienne was elegant and dramatic though maybe not totally comfortable.

Alassane Drabo Gourde Protectrice: a useful tool and a tribute to a ubiquitous object in rural West Africa. Maybe the first time the pot has been used as a lampshade!

Amadou Fatoumata Ba Pouf Tresse made out of rubber tyres.

The last section -Origin and Future – acknowledges Africa’s past, its traditions and roots, and looks to the future.

Omar Victor Diop Project Diaspora (Mame)

Ikire Jones The Evan suit . From the collection The Untold Renaissance .

Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou (Musclemen): At once a tribute to the tradition of African photographic portraiture and a critique.

Oumou Sy: Inspired by Senghor ‘s concept of metissage ( hybridization) traditional patterns and geometric shapes fuse into a contemporary vision.

The exhibition ends with Goncalo Mabunda’s eloquent throne www. Crise.com made out of recycled weapons from the Mozambican Civil War. It is a critique of African military regimes yet also a reminder of the transformative power of art and the resistance and creativity of African civil societies.

I have just mentioned just a small sampling of the many artists included in the exhibition.

If you can’t see the exhibition I would highly recommend buying on Amazon the catalogue, which provides even more information than the exhibition. It is an invaluable database.

The post African Design at the Vitra Design Museum first appeared on Happening Africa.

INCORRUPTIBLE: A Documentary on the 2012 election in Senegal

isabelwilcox — Fri, 12 Jun 2015 19:06:05 +0000

The promise of African Youth: Y’en a Marre holds the government accountable by getting thousands of young people to register to vote.

Produced by Edward Tyler Nahem and directed and co-produced by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, the film INCORRUPTIBLE documents the controversial presidential elections held in Senegal in 2012. Senegal was pitched into crisis when then sitting President Abdoulaye Wade decided unilaterally to rewrite the constitution to allow for a third term, upsetting what traditionally had been a more peaceful political landscape. A grass root artists youth movement made of rappers and journalists Y’en a Marre (enough is enough), erupted to protect one of Africa’s oldest and most stable democracies. It called for the restoration of accountable representative democracy. What follows thrills, excites and inspires.

The film follows the main players of the 2012 election: incumbent President Wade, opposition candidate Macky Sall, music superstar Youssou N’Dour, and the Y’en a Marre movement.

Unembellished and beautifully shot through a veritè lens, Incorruptible reads real and raw, as it serves to demonstrate what the youth of an African nation are capable of to preserve its democratic ideals, no matter how fierce, twisted and corrupt the opposition proves to be.

June 9th was its debut in the UK at the Sheffield doc/Fest and the North American debut is June 14 th at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

The post INCORRUPTIBLE: A Documentary on the 2012 election in Senegal first appeared on Happening Africa.