DOCSLIB.ORG

Tracing the Idea of African Vernacular-Rooted Art: a Critical Analysis of Selected Contemporary South African and Nigerian Artists (2007-2016)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Tracing the Idea of African Vernacular-Rooted Art: a Critical Analysis of Selected Contemporary South African and Nigerian Artists (2007-2016) TRACING THE IDEA OF AFRICAN VERNACULAR-ROOTED ART: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF SELECTED CONTEMPORARY SOUTH AFRICAN AND NIGERIAN ARTISTS (2007-2016) By SULE AMEH JAMES Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of DPhil Visual Studies in the FACULTY OF HUMANITIES UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA November 2019 Promoters: Prof. Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie & Dr Rory du Plessis DECLARATION Student number: 16353456 I understand what plagiarism entails and am aware of the University’s policy in this regard. I declare that this thesis is my own, original work. Where someone else’s work was used (whether from a printed source, the internet or any other source) due acknowledgement was given and reference was made according to departmental requirements. I did not make use of another student’s previous work and submit it as my own. I did not allow and will not allow anyone to copy my work with the intention of presenting it as his or her own work. Signature.............................................. Date: 28 November 2019 ii ABSTRACT In this study, I seek to explore how contemporary art created by Nigerian and South African artists can be described to be rooted in an African vernacular. To this end, I conducted a comparative analysis of the cultural imageries and symbolisms of four Nigerian and four South African artists. For each of the artists, five of their works produced between 2007 and 2016 were purposively sampled. Thus, the study investigates forty works within the ten year period. The comparative analysis focuses on visual hermeneutics theory and art historical methodologies (formal analysis). Accordingly, the analysis examines the artists’ personal influences, training, frames of reference, knowledge base and philosophy as well as reception of their works. Given the fact that most of the selected artists are excluded from mainstream art historical research because their works are said to be outside the normative contemporary art standards, this study establishes that the trend of their art is significant and should be researched. For that reason, the selected artists were included in this study so as to contribute a mainstream art historical discourse on their artworks. In the theoretical underpinning of this study, it is argued that although vernacular arts were produced in historical African arts context, nevertheless the contemporary modes of cultural appropriations in artworks by the selected academically trained artists are not a continuation of the historical African. Therefore this study establishes that the adoption of the term African vernacular rooted in narrating contemporary African arts produced by Nigerian and South African artists is a rethink in the use of the old term in opening up new discourse on engagement with cultural imageries and symbolisms. As a result, this research argues that their ideological trends in appropriating cultural imageries in arts are not a different form of contemporary African art. The significance of this research lies in the contribution of knowledge to the existing literature on global contemporary African art, and in initiating the exercise of documenting visual culture of artists from both countries. Although the study provides a wider insight into appropriations of cultural symbolisms in the works of these artists, it shows that some of the artists focus their visual narratives on specific dominant vernacular tropes or cultural imageries and symbolisms in narrating experiences from past and present occurrences in both countries. However, many of the dominant cultural symbolisms are basically depictions of either young black African children or compositions showing African men and women. However, they narrate different experiences and aspects of African socio-cultural life. Significantly, the depictions in the artworks of the contemporary artists demonstrate, in different heterogeneous ways, African identities through cultures, heritage, history and identity. Furthermore, most of the African vernacular rooted arts discussed in this study reveal influences from environmental factors such as migration, homelessness, African humanism, socio-cultural ceremonies, cultural and racial unity, oppression, ritual murders, and family life. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I sincerely appreciate God Almighty for seeing me through this study. I hereby acknowledge the University of Pretoria’s bursary support, as well as Federal College of Education, Zaria, Nigeria for granting me study leave to undertake this study. I sincerely appreciate their different roles without which this study would not have been possible. My profound gratitude goes to my promoters, Professor Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie (UCSB) and Dr Rory du Plessis, who as supervisor and co-supervisor guided me through difficult terrain to realise the completion of this study. I sincerely appreciate Professor Amanda du Preez for her support from the beginning of the study, as well as other members of staff in the Department of Visual Arts, University of Pretoria, who were helpful during this programme. In addition, I am grateful to Professor Gilbert Onwu, one of the consultants at the research unit in the Graduate centre of the University, for helping me with the foundational aspect of my research. To each interviewed artist who shared their thoughts and artworks for the success of this study, I am grateful. Most importantly, I wish to thank my family – my wife Olubunmi Omobola and our promised children for their endurance and support to see me complete this study. I thank my father and mother, Pa James and Mummy Aipu Ameh, the Ogidiolu’s, my brothers, Ameh, Ijachi, Ocho, Edward, Friday and sisters and their families. To my friends, especially Miracle Amoni, and Pastor Gabriel Oladija for their supports during my study, I am grateful. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ........................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .............................................................................. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................... viii CHAPTER ONE 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Scope and delimitations of the study................................................. 2 1.3 Objectives of the study....................................................................... 3 1.4 Background and identification of research problem ......................... 4 1.5 Literature review ............................................................................... 17 1.5.1 Contemporary African Art......................................................... 17 1.5.2 South African Art ...................................................................... 19 1.5.3 Nigerian Art ............................................................................... 20 1.6 Theoretical framework ........................................................................ 22 1.7 Research design.................................................................................... 22 1.8 Original contribution ........................................................................... 23 1.9 Summary of chapters ........................................................................... 24 CHAPTER TWO INTERROGATION OF AFRICAN VERNACULAR-ROOTED ART IN NIGERIA AND SOUTH AFRICA 33 2.1 Introduction.......................................................................................... 33 2.2 Articulation and motivation for theoretical framework......................... 38 2.3 Methodology......................................................................................... 39 2.4 The concept of African vernacular-rooted artworks.............................. 39 2.5 African vernacular symbolisms in pastoral landscape paintings .......... 39 2.6 Findings and discussion ........................................................................ 54 2.7 Social issues in Afrocentric vernacular paintings ................................. 57 2.8 Findings and discussion ........................................................................ 70 2.9 African vernacular-rooted symbolisms in sculptures with socio-cultural themes 72 2.10 Findings and discussion ......................................................................... 82 2.11 African vernacular-rooted imageries in socio-political thematic sculptures 84 2.12 Findings and discussion............................................................................ 94 2.13 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 96 CHAPTER THREE AFRICAN VERNACULAR TROPES IN THE ARTWORKS BY SOUTH AFRICAN ARTISTS, NELSON MAKAMO AND LEBOHANG SITHOLE 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 98 3.2 Nelson Makamo ....................................................................................... 98 3.3 Analysis of vernacular tropes in Nelson Makamo’s artworks.................. 102 3.4 Sub-conclusion.......................................................................................... 113 3.5 Lebohang Sithole ..................................................................................... 114 v 3.6 Analysis of vernacular tropes in Lebohang Sithole’s works ................... 116 3.7 Sub-conclusion..........................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Thupelo Cape Town Assembly
    ThupeloThupelo Cape Cape Town Town Assembly Assembly forfor TriangleMembers Network of Triangle Network Contact us: [email protected] / www.thupelo.com Thupelo – Cape Town Trust P O Box 250 Woodstock Cape Town 7915 This publication is made possible through the generous support of The Bertha Foundation, The Swiss Arts Council and many private donors. We are grateful for the assistance which enabled us to arrange the Thupelo Assembly and production of this resource. Table of Contents Table Introduction by Jill Trappler Page1 Essay by Lionel Davis Page 5 Essay byTembinkosi Goniwe Page 9 Essay by Pamella Dlungwana Page 12 Organizational Profiles 32° East, Ugandan Arts Trust Page 14 Thupelo Cape Town Trust, South Africa Page 17 Triangle Arts, New York Page 20 Njelele Art Station, Zimbabwe Page23 IS’ Art, Madagascar Page 27 Triangle Canada Page 30 Britto Arts Trust, Bangladesh Page34 National Art Gallery of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo Page 36 Gasworks & Triangle UK Page 38 Nafasi Art Space, Tanzania Page 41 Thapong Visual Arts, Botswana Page 44 Triangle Bolivia Page 47 Vasl Arts Collective, Karachi Pakistan Page 50 Insaka Arts Trust, Zambia Page 53 Triangle France Page 56 Greatmore Studios, South Africa Page 61 Kuona Trust, Centre for Visual Arts, Kenya Page 64 Lugar a Dudas, Colombia Page 67 Village Unhu, Zimbabwe Page 70 Bag Factory, South Africa Page 73 pARTage Workshop, Mauritius Page 76 Popty, Wales Page 79 Art In The House, Namibia Page 82 Overview by Commitee Page 84 & Conclusion Mindmap Page 87 Above, right - Thupelo Assembly delegates artist, project administrators and directors as it is THUPELO ASSEMBLY FOR TRIANGLE our way to learn/teach by working together and in PARTICIPANTS conversation.
    [Show full text]
  • Middlesex University Research Repository an Open Access Repository Of
    Middlesex University Research Repository An open access repository of Middlesex University research http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk Spring, Christopher James (2015) A way of life: considering and curating the Sainsbury African Galleries. [Doctorate by Public Works] Final accepted version (with author’s formatting) This version is available at: https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/17326/ Copyright: Middlesex University Research Repository makes the University’s research available electronically. Copyright and moral rights to this work are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners unless otherwise stated. The work is supplied on the understanding that any use for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. A copy may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial, research or study without prior permission and without charge. Works, including theses and research projects, may not be reproduced in any format or medium, or extensive quotations taken from them, or their content changed in any way, without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). They may not be sold or exploited commercially in any format or medium without the prior written permission of the copyright holder(s). Full bibliographic details must be given when referring to, or quoting from full items including the author’s name, the title of the work, publication details where relevant (place, publisher, date), pag- ination, and for theses or dissertations the awarding institution, the degree type awarded, and the date of the award. If you believe that any material held in the repository infringes copyright law, please contact the Repository Team at Middlesex University via the following email address: [email protected] The item will be removed from the repository while any claim is being investigated.
    [Show full text]
  • Encounters with the Controversial Teaching Philosophy of the Johannesburg Art Foundation in the Development of South African Art During 1982 - 1992
    MASTER OF ARTS IN FINE ARTS ELIZABETH CASTLE Encounters With the Controversial Teaching Philosophy of the Johannesburg Art Foundation in the Development of South African Art During 1982 - 1992 Student number 739110 COPYRIGHT © E CASTLE 0 DECLARATION I Elizabeth Castle hereby declare that all the research is my own and to my knowledge has not been done before in this format. I also declare that all the interviews with artists and Council Members of the Johannesburg Art Foundation have been conducted by me. The work on the exhibition Controversial ways of seeing had written consent from the artists and owners. Finally the display of original archive material and the inserts in the paper have written consent from the custodian of the archive. Signed by Candidate Elizabeth Castle …………………………………. Signed by Supervisor David Andrew……………………………………. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION 1 ABSTRACT 3 INTRODUCTION 4 CHAPTER 1: CONTEXTUALISING THE JAF WITHIN A DISLOCATED SOCIETY 6 CHAPTER 2: ANOMALIES IN THE TEACHING PHILOSOPHY 21 CHAPTER 3: VISIONS FOR A DIVIDED SOCIETY 35 CHAPTER 4: REFLECTIONS ON THE EXHIBITION 46 Controversial ways of seeing CONCLUSION 68 BIBLIOGRAPHY 71 INTERVIEWS 74 ABBREVIATIONS 75 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 75 APPENDIX A: Questions for interviews 76 APPENDIX B: Key newspaper articles (Insert) APPENDIX C: Ainslie’s personal notes and correspondence (Insert) APPENDIX D: Interview transcripts 77 APPENDIX E: Catalogue (Insert) APPENDIX F Attached: Video of interviews and artists works 2 Abstract The Johannesburg Art Foundation (JAF), founded in 1982 by Bill Ainslie, maintained a teaching philosophy which opposed any form of discrimination and stressed that art education should be a possibility for everyone.
    [Show full text]
  • THE TRIANGLE ARTS NETWORK – Contemporary Art and Transnational Production
    THE TRIANGLE ARTS NETWORK – Contemporary Art and Transnational Production by Miriam Aronowicz A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy Department of Art University of Toronto © Copyright by Miriam Aronowicz 2016 The Triangle Arts Network: Contemporary Art and Transnational Production Miriam Aronowicz Doctor of Philosophy Department of Art University of Toronto 2016 Abstract This dissertation presents a historical overview and contemporary analysis of the Triangle Arts Network, an international network of artists and arts organizations that promotes the exchange of ideas and innovation within the contemporary arts. It was established in 1982 through a workshop held in Pine Plains, New York and quickly grew into an international network of artist led workshops around the world. More than twenty years later the network continues to grow and includes a roster of ongoing workshops as well as artist led organizations and centres. This dissertation situates Triangle as a major global phenomenon, yet one that operates outside the mainstream artscapes. My research follows the network’s historical links from Saskatchewan, Canada, to New York and onto South Africa. This web-like evolution demonstrates the complexity of global art networks and the fluidity of boundaries needed for contemporary art discourse. This research explores how the movement of ideas, artists and infrastructures complicate our understanding of clearly defined boundaries within contemporary ii art and globalization. Using Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as a metaphor for the Triangle Network, I attempt to unpack the complexities of an art system without objects, a process without product and the entangled relationships between artists, workshops and grassroots models of production.
    [Show full text]
  • David-Koloane.Pdf
    Goodman Gallery David Koloane Biography David Koloane (1938 – 2019) was born in Alexandra, Johannesburg, South Africa. Koloane spent his career making the world a more hospitable place for black artists during and after apartheid. Koloane achieved this through his pioneering work as an artist, writer, curator, teacher and mentor to young and established artists at a time when such vocations were restricted to white people in South Africa. A large part of this effort involved the initiatives Koloane helped establish, from the first Black Art Gallery in 1977, the Thupelo experimental workshop in 1985 and the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios in 1991, where he served as director for many years. Koloane also tutored at the Federated Union of Black Artists (FUBA) in 1979 and became the head of the fine art section and gallery from 1985 to 1990. Through his expressive, evocative and poetic artwork, Koloane interrogated the socio-political and existential human condition, using Johannesburg as his primary subject matter. Koloane’s representations of Johannesburg are populated with images of cityscapes, townships, street life, jazz musicians, traffic jams, migration, refugees, dogs, and birds among others. Imaginatively treated, through the medium of painting, drawing, assemblage, printmaking and mixed media, Koloane’s scenes are a blend of exuberant and sombre, discernible and opaque pictorial narratives. Koloane’s work has been widely exhibited locally and internationally. In 1999 he was part of the group exhibition _Liberated Voices_ at the National Museum of African Art in Washington DC. In 2013, Koloane’s work was shown on the South African pavilion at the 55th la Biennale di Venezia and on the group exhibition _My Joburg_ at La Maison Rouge in Paris.
    [Show full text]
  • Worldings a Virtual Conference
    Worldings A Virtual Conference July 4, 9, 10 and 11, 2021 Live Over Zoom Presented by Griffin Art Projects and Urban Shaman Worldings Program Schedule A Virtual Conference Sunday, July 4, 2021 July 4, 9, 10 and 11, 2021 | Live Over Zoom 8:00 - 8:10 PM SAST SPOTLIGHT FEATURE Presented by Griffin Art Projects and Urban Shaman, Worldings: A Virtual Conference brings together a weekend of collaborative 8:10 - 9:25 PM SAST panels and presentations facilitated live over Zoom exploring the PREVIEW EVENT: IMPERFECT CONSTELLATIONS unique artistic perspectives and histories that exist in Canadian and South African experience as seen through the eyes of artists, MODERATOR: KAREN TAM | SPEAKERS: DR. MARISSA LARGO, PAMILA MATHARU, MORIDJA KITENGE BANZA, JEN SUNGSHINE AND DAVID NG OF LOVE writers, curators and activists. Coinciding with the presentation INTERSECTIONS | RESPONDANT: USHA SEEJARIM of the solo exhibition William Kentridge: The Colander, curated by Lisa Baldissera, this virtual gathering reflects on the concept of Adjunct curator and moderator at Griffin Art Projects, Karen Tam, will be host- ‘the colander’ and how the global events of 2020 expose, through ing an informal conversation that brings together an intimate group of artists the experiences that have unfolded in each place, unique histo- and cultural producers engaging with key themes of resilience and resistance from a BIPOC settler perspective. From institutional critiques to explorations ries of precarity, globalization and colonization, to focus on resil- into the politics of archives and the effects of colonialism on diasporic com- ience and resistance. munities in Canada, this panel explores ways that art and artists address the gaps in dominant discourse and narratives by creating and sharing space for Collaborative supporters include the BAG Factory, a non-profit underrepresented voices to tell their stories.
    [Show full text]
  • Allara on Savage, 'Making Art in Africa, 1960-2010'
    H-AfrArts Allara on Savage, 'Making Art in Africa, 1960-2010' Review published on Thursday, July 30, 2015 Polly Savage, ed. Making Art in Africa, 1960-2010. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing, 2014. 304 pp. $80.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-84822-151-2. Reviewed by Pamela Allara Published on H-AfrArts (July, 2015) Commissioned by Jean M. Borgatti In The Marketplace of Creative Exchange Subtitled “Seventy Conversations about Making Art in Africa,”Making Art in Africa is a series of artist’s statements about their work and their participation in artists’ workshops, with prominence given to the international Triangle Artists’ Workshop program initiated by Robert Loder in 1982. However, the book is not a history or chronology of the Triangle workshops, which were documented in the edited anthology Triangle: Variety of Experience Around Artists’ Workshops and Residencies (2007). (Unfortunately neither that text nor Elsbeth Joyce Court’s 2014 Artists and Art Education in Africa are available in Boston-area university libraries). Loder’s introductory essay and the footnotes Savage provides for the essays and each artist’s statement do provide a skeletal historical context for the reader. The premise of the book is that collaboration and networking are central to the creative process, whether in workshops, community centers, or more formal educational settings. The elongated map of Africa that opens the book indicates the many sites mentioned in the text representing not only Triangle workshop locations but also the extensive network of artistic organizations that exist on the continent. Making Art in Africa begins with a forward by Sir Anthony Caro and brief essays by Robert Loder, John Picton, and Polly Savage.
    [Show full text]
  • Making Art in Africa
    MAKING ART IN AFRICA: 1960–2010 Edited by Polly Savage, with essays by Robert Loder and John Picton and a Foreword by Sir Anthony Caro December 2014 ĂĈĀƫ4ƫĂąĊƫ))ƫđƫăĀąƫ,#!/ƫ Over 300 colour illustrations . 'ƫđƫĊĈĉġāġĉąĉĂĂġāĆāġĂƫđƫĹąĆċĀĀ MAKING ART IN AFRICA 1960–2010 đƫ Sixty artist interviews ofer unique insights into making art in Africa đƫ *(1 !/ƫ0$!ƫ3+.'ƫ+"ƫ$%#$ġ,.+ü(!ƫ* ƫ(!//!.ġ'*+3*ƫ.0%/0/ƫ".+)ƫ%#!.%Čƫ$*Čƫ Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana and Namibia đƫ Includes over 300 colour illustrations, many published for the first time đƫ Illustrated timelines help to elucidate the book’s fascinating social and political contexts What does it mean to work as an artist in Africa? In Making Art in Africa, 60 of the continent’s leading artists and curators give very diferent answers to this question 0$.+1#$ƫƫ/!.%!/ƫ+"ƫ!40.+. %*.5ƫü./0ġ$* ƫ+))!*0.%!/ċƫ+1/%*#ƫ+*ƫƫ/%*#(!ƫ.03+.'Čƫ !$ƫ+1*0ƫ+*/% !./ƫƫ)+)!*0ƫ+"ƫ.0ġ)'%*#ƫ%*ƫ".%ƫ/%*!ƫāĊćĀċƫ!*/!(5ƫ%((1/0.0! ƫ with paintings, sculptures, prints, installations and archival images, these narratives draw on contemporary events, personal discoveries, and the networks such as Triangle Arts, which have brought artists together. The result is a compelling insight into the diversity +"ƫ!4,!.%!*!/ƫ* ƫ,.+!//!/ƫ+"ƫ.0ġ)'%*#ƫ+*ƫ0$!ƫ+*0%*!*0ƫ 1.%*#ƫ0$%/ƫ,!.%+ ƫ+"ƫ. %(ƫ social and political change. Polly Savage is a writer, curator and Senior Teaching Fellow in History of Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.
    [Show full text]
  • Gallery : the Art Magazine from Gallery Delta
    Sponsoring art for Zimbabwe Gallery Delta, the publisher and the editor gratefully acknowledge the following sponsors who have contributed to the production of this issue of Gallery magazine; asis Anglo American Corporation Services Limited ^^ The Rio Tinto Foundation J^ APEX COBPOBATION OF ZIMBABWE UMITED Joerg Sorgenicht allery Contents December 1995 '95 2 Africa : a review by Margaret Garlake 6 In hope of flight: painter-magician. Rashid Jogee by Andrew Whaley 10 Ways of seeing: two rock paintings in Zimbabwe by Peter Garlake 14 Genesis: Zimbabwean and German artists create sparks by Derek Huggins and others 20 Reviews of recent work and forthcoming exhibitions and events Cover: San rock painting. Banket. 180cm across, from a tracing by Courtney Yilk Left: Arthur Azevedo. Secretary Bird, 1995. approx 30 x 38cm. pen & ink. © Gallery Publications Publisher: Derek Huggins. Editor: Barbara Murray. Design & typesetting: Myrtle Mallis. Origination; HPP Studios. Printing: A.W. Bardwell & Co. Paper: Express from Graphtec Ltd. Contents are the copyright of Gallery Publications and may not be reproduced in any manner or form without permission. The views and opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the writers themselves and not necessarily those of Gallery Delta, the publisher or the editor. Subscriptions from Gallery Publications, c/o Gallery Delta. 1 10 Livingstone Avenue. P.O. Box UA 373. Union Avenue, Harare. Tel: (14)792135. "Transformation is painful, exhilarating, intellectually intractable and often visually alienating, but without its confrontations there can be no cultural creativity. To have ensured the continuity of cultural collision is not the least of the achievements (0 of Africa '95." Margaret Garlake reviews exhibition under discussion.
    [Show full text]
  • Africa E Mediterraneo
    frica e Mediterraneo AC ULTURA E S O C IETÀ Sommari ~ All issues EVENTI 2015 La comunicazione interculturale nella cooperazione allo sviluppo di Carla Pusceddu Africa e Mediterraneo n. 83 (2/15) Bellezza dal Congo alla fondazione Cartier, di Andrea Marchesini Reggiani Oltre l’albero di acacia: natura, In and Out of the Studio: Photographic Portraits from paesaggio ed ecologia in Africa West Africa. Cent ans d’Afrique de l’Ouest à travers l’ob- jectif, par Flore Thoreau La Salle EDITORIALE: Una questione di sguardi, di Sandra Federici The Lay of the Land: New Photography from Africa – Une Afrique de paysages urbains réels et imaginaires DOSSIER par la rédaction Reality and Exoticism in the African Landscape. A Tale of the Disappearing Mirage, di Dismas A. Masolo LIBRI Produzioni mediatiche contemporanee in Tanzania Il rapporto tra uomo e natura attraverso lo specchio del lessico in Kiswahili, di Marina Castagneto Storia, identità, narrazioni nella regione dei Grandi Laghi Divinità ambientali e creazione perdurante. Un caso di Mia Couto e il mondo oltre il mondo sacralizzazione della natura nel Ghana nordorientale, di Gaetano Mangiameli INSERTO: Asylum Corner Obiettivi del Millennio e strategie di resilienza climatica in Mozambico, di Elisa Magnani Africa e Mediterraneo n. 82 (1/15) Désertification. Ré-interrogation du concept à la lumière d’exemples africains, par Aude Nuscia Taïbi Immigrazione: media e paura Il sogno agricolo possibile di Bessie Head, di Francesca Romana Paci EDITORIALE: La comunicazione sociale su migrazione e rifugio in Italia Les urgences climatiques et les écrivains africains : changements de paradigmes ?, par Dominique Ranaivoson DOSSIER Cosmopolitan Solidarity vs.
    [Show full text]
  • Artist Statement
    Artist Statement Anita Dube It started of unexpectedly as one by one some of us were asked if we would participate in International workshops in Zambia, in the U.K., in Namibia, in South Africa, in New York etc. And before we realized it, we were hooked not only on the concept but also to the responsibility of setting up the first one in India using our (happy) experiences and imagining happier one here on home ground which we could tint with our knowledge of a particular context and forge into something significant with our commitment and sheer hard work. This was Khoj '97' our difficult coming together, test of our varying capacities; ideologically synchronous as well as diachronous, but focused towards an autonomous open ended umbrella organization led by artists for artists. Our aim was basically to function as an experimental art laboratory that would bring artists together from different parts of the country, from the sub continent and from around the globe, setting up a cooperative non-hierarchical work situation where dialogue, exchange and transfer of information, energy and skills could take place as an intensely lived experience. Khoj is an emblem of our vision of working together in difficult situations, somehow pushing against the establishment grain under the rubric of creating sensitizing encounters, opening up insularities and closures to address the binary polarizations that have hardened into unchangeable positions both inside and outside. Khoj then is a search that seeks to question through an Art Workshop these divides: The urban vs the provinvial: the post modern vs, the modern: the female: the left vs.
    [Show full text]