I have been increasingly interested in artistic expressions that are not part of the mainstream and that reflect a different cultural experience, perspective, and history.  In great part because I get great pleasure from being in Africa, whether it be Kenya, Mali, Egypt, South Africa to name a few, I became interested in art from the continent in all its diversity of forms. While at first I studied traditional African Art during my postgraduate studies it is Africa’s contemporary art that finally captured my attention. I needed to learn more, so a few years ago I went to the art fair in Johannesburg.  While visiting one of the local galleries I ran into Diane Frankel and her husband Chuck. We hit it off wonderfully. We had three things in common: we lived in the US and shared the same two passions, Art and Africa.   Diane Frankel lives now in San Francisco but she lived in Botswana with her husband at an earlier time. In addition to being a very accomplished professional in museum management, she is very committed to promoting African contemporary artists in the USA.  Buying the art was a first step for her but it became quickly evident that more needed to be done. Indeed, these artists need more international private and public exposure. She is determined to give them a voice that will be heard at least in the USA if not beyond. As a result, she went with a team to South Africa and interviewed a selection of very talented artists, some already known internationally and some yet to be discovered.  I will be posting a selection of these interviews on my blog. So stay tuned!

This first video Introduction to Artists Interviews is an introduction to the series, a foretaste of what is to come.