Proposed Research Outline: In the slippery terrain created by globalization and cultural brokering, contemporary art made in Africa (and its diasporas) has enjoyed a steady growth in interest and appreciation by Western audiences during the last few decades (Kasfir, 2007). Several biennials, triennials, and scholarly works attest to that, with much of its impact owed to the figure of Okwui Enwezor. However, seamlessly uniting diverse African artists under the untrained Western gaze for the commercialism of the international art circuit – notwithstanding their different cultural contexts and the medium in which they work – is bound to create problems. Enwezor’s and other authors’ sophisticated publications and curatorial works show both the vitality and issues still to be addressed in this field of study (Ogbechie, 2010). Coveted by international art markets for both its quality and commercial rewards, African Art (in the singular) appears to refer to a homogeneous ensemble (Enwezor and Okeke-Agulu, 2009). All countries, styles, practices, and languages are, in theory, on the same level. However, schools, movements, socio-economic development, and political (in-)stabilities in its many countries trigger varied artistic responses towards both local and global forces. African cinemas are exemplary of that. They have evolved quite unevenly from their beginnings. Diverse languages, multiple former colonial powers, and troubled socio-political histories forced film scholarship to address them in the plural. This development à deux vitesses between African art and African cinemas spurs a number of questions. Therefore, ‘zooming out’ to show this décalage, I intend to bring African photography and cinemas into a wide theoretical frame... ... middle of paper ... ...ica and its diasporas. Bibliographical references: Enwezor, O. and C. Okeke-Agulu (2009) Contemporary African Artists, since 1980, Bologne: Damiani. Eshun, K. and R. Gray (2011) 'The Militant Image: A Ciné‐Geography', Third Text, 25 (1), p. 1-12. Gilroy, P. (1993) The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness, London: Verso. Kasfir, S. L. (2007) African Art and the Colonial Encounter: Inventing a Global Commodity, Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Ogbechie, S. O. (2010) The Curator as Culture Broker: A Critique of the Curatorial Regime of Okwui Enwezor in the Discourse of Contemporary African Art. [Internet]. Available at: http://www.africancolours.com/african-art-news/550/international/the_curator_as_culture_broker_a_critique_of_the_curatorial_regime_of_okwui_enwezor_in_the_discourse_of_contemporary_african_art.htm [Accessed 24 October 2011].
The display of Benin art in museum and galleries reflect the attitudes and perceptions of Europeans towards non-western artefacts, especially African. Thus as European attitudes change towards non-western art since the discovery of Benin art in 1897, Benin art has been revaluated and re-categorised.
Jackson, P. (1992). (in)Forming the Visual: (re)Presenting Women of African Descent. International Review of African American Art. 14 (3), 31-7.
Many African cultures see life as a cycle we are born, we grow and mature, enter adulthood, and one day we will eventually die but the cycle continues long after death. In Africa art is used as a way to express many things in their society, in this paper I will focus on different ways traditional African art are used to describe the cycle of one’s life. Since Africa is such a large continent it is important to keep in mind that every country and tribe has different rituals and views when it comes to the cycle of life. It is estimated to be well over a thousand different ethnic groups and cultures in Africa today. Thousands of cultures in Africa see the stages of life bound together in a continuous cycle; a cycle of birth, growth, maturity,
Western attitudes to African people and culture have always affected how their art was appreciated and this has also coloured the response to the art from Benin. Over time, concepts of ‘Race’, defined as a distinct group with a common lineage, and ‘Primitive’ which pertains to the beginning or origin,, have been inextricably linked with the perception of Africa. The confusion of the two in the minds of people at the end of the 19th century, and some of the 20th, caused a sense of superiority amongst the ‘White Races’ that affected every aspect of their interaction with ‘the Black’. The ‘Civilisation’ of Africa by conquest and force is justified by these views.
Zahan, Dominique. The Religion, Spirituality, and Thought of Traditional Africa. Trans. Kate Ezra Martin and Lawrence M. Martin. Chicago: U of Chicago Press, 1979.
Schepelern, Peter. "Film according to Dogma: Ground Rules, Obstacles, and Liberations." Transnational Cinema in a Global North. Eds. Andrew Nestingen and Trevor G. Elkington. Detroit: Wayne State Press, 2005: 73-107
The Harlem Renaissance had a lot of influence on modern day art because many artist white and black drew inspiration from traditional African sculptures. In the 1900s, “the aesthetics of traditional African sculpture became a powerful influence among European artists who formed an avant-garde in the development of modern art.”(“African
In the first segment of his film series, Different but Equal, Basil Davidson sets out to disprove the fictitious and degrading assumptions about African civilization made by various Western scholars and explorers. Whether it is the notion that Africans are “savage and crude in nature” or the presumed inability of Africans to advance technologically, these stereotypes are damaging to the image and history of Africa. Although European Renaissance art depicts the races of white and black in equal dignity, there was a drastic shift of European attitudes toward Africa that placed Africans in a much lower standing than people of any other culture. The continent of Africa quickly became ravished by the inhuman slave trade and any traditional civilization
(7) Anthony Kwame Appiah, In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosphy of Culture (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992)
There is no art, music, and literature like here in sub-Saharan Africa. What is important to Westerners, such as the artist, label, and static-like wall hanging, means nothing to us. African art is living, spiritual, and meant to go back to the Earth once the soul of the item has run out. As the Bamana of Mali say, the art are “things that can be looked at without limit”. Our artwork has changed, emerged, and survived eras of turmoil and inversely, hope. I have found passing through the global gateway into Africa has made me appreciate this culture more, and appealed to me on a level that made me choose being a part of it.
Loftus, D. and Wood, P. (2008), 'The Art of Benin: Changing Relations Between Europe and Africa II' in Brown, R. D. (ed.) Cultural Encounters (AA100 Book 3), Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp. 43-87.
Angeles, Los. (2009). African arts. Volume 28. Published by African Studies Center, University of California.
Unlike sexuality in western carvings where sexual orientation goes beyond heterosexuality, in African art sexuality was limited to heterosexuality. A critical analysis of African carvings demonstrate that apart from expressing the society’s perception of sexuality, deities were also assigned sex in most instances incorporating both male and female organs. This does not imply that sexuality in African art has also experienced the sexuality debates like western art. Intersex carvings are an important observation in African art, and this demonstrates the role played by the supernatural in African beliefs as pertaining sexuality. Sexuality in African carvings demonstrates the spirituality of sex and the fact that sex is believed to be of significant importance in worship.
An Image of Africa Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad has been depicted as “among the half-dozen greatest short novels in the English language.” Chinua Achebe believes otherwise. In Chinua Achebe’s An Image of Africa: Racism is Conrad’s Heart of Darkness he simply states that, “Joseph Conrad was a thoroughgoing racist” [pg.5]. Achebe argues that the racist observed in the Heart of Darkness is expressed due to the western psychology or as Achebe states “desire,” this being to show Africa as an antithesis to Europe.
Bohannan, Paul, and Philip Curtin. Africa & Africans . Long Grove: Waveland Press, Inc. , 1995.