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In/Sight : African Photographers, 1940 to the Present

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In/Sight : African Photographers, 1940 to the Present .-.. ^ w wi £ b^*»»»*% I >.«*: t ss :^y / vv.*s^ In/sight: African Photographers, 1940 to the Present Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum May 24-Septemter 29, 1996 Curated by Clare Bell, Okwui Enwezor, Danielle lilkin, and Octavio Zaya This exhibition is funded by The Rockefeller Foundation and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Major continuing support and international air transportation are provided by Lufthansa. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from Metropolitan New York Library Council - METRO http://archive.org/details/africphOObell In/sight: African Photographers, 1940 to the Present GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM In/sight: African Photographers, 1940 to the Present Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum May 24-September 29, 1996 This exhibition is funded in part by The Rockefeller Foundation and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Major continuing support and international air transportation are provided by © Lufthansa © 1996 The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York. All rights reserved. ISBN 0-8109-6895-9 (hardcover) ISBN 0-89207-169-9 (softcover) Printed in Italy by Mariogros, color separations by Sele Offset Torino Hardcover edition distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 100 Fifth Avenue New York, New York 10011 Guggenheim Museum Publications 1071 Fifth Avenue New York, New York 10128 Designed by Cara Galowitz Front: Seydou Keita, Untitled, 1959. Gelatin-silver print; image: 35.5 x 25.5 cm, sheet: 40 x 30 cm. Fonds National d'Art Contemporain, Ministere de la Culture, Paris Inv.: 95148. Back: Lamia Naji, Catania, Italy, 1994. Gelatin- silver print, 40 x 30 cm. Courtesy of the artist. Contents Preface Thomas Krens 6 Acknowledgments Clare Bell, Olcwui Enwezor, Danielle 1 ilk'in, Octavio Zaya 7 Introduction Clare Bell 9 Colonial Imaginary, Tropes of Disruption: History, Culture, and Representation in the Works of African Photographers Okwui Enwezor and Octavio Zaya 17 Plates 49 A Critical Presence: Drum Magazine in Context Okwui Enwezor 179 Plates 193 Photography and the Substance of the Image Olu Oguibe 231 Artists' Biographies, Statements, and Works in the Exhibition 253 Preface Thomasomas Krvrens This exhibition represents a substantial turning point in the museum's history. For the first time, African and not European constructs inform the ideas surrounding the works on view. Founded on the tenets of European modernism and its tendency toward abstract forms, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, from its very beginnings, has served as both a catalyst and champion or avant-garde theories and approaches to art. In/sight: African Photographers, 1 Q40 to the Present is also rare in that it recuses major critical attention on issues or representation, a subject that either remained dormant or was subsumed by abstract idioms in past exhibitions. Painting and sculpture from Eastern and Western Europe, as well as North America, have been the mainstay of the museum for more than half a century. Only in the last few years have we had the means and opportunity to expand from that nucleus, leading us to address the globe at large and to include other mediums in our programming and collecting efforts. Photography is now chief among the museums pursuits. By broadening its engagement with twentieth-century art to encompass photography and multimedia, the institution has embarked on a dynamic journey, one that moves significantly beyond modernism's reflective inquiries to contend with art forms and discourses that challenge conventional ideologies while constantly advancing new methods of inquiry and debate. In bringing together thirty African-born photographers, this exhibition not only honors the achievements of these artists but highlights a medium whose fundamental relationship to the arts in Africa is largely unfamiliar to Western audiences. As always, our sponsors have proved to be the most pivotal of advocates. In order to embark on this project, the museum needed crucial funds for research and printed materials. Above all, I would like to thank Alberta Arthurs, Director of Arts and Humanities, and Tomas Ybarra-Frausto, Associate Director of Arts and Humanities, at The Rockefeller Foundation for their unwavering support of the Guggenheim Museum's endeavor to organize a presentation of African art. My appreciation is offered to The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, most especially to Pamela Clapp, Program Director, for her assistance and support. I am equally indebted to Jiirgen Weber, Chairman of Lufthansa German Airlines, for the company's continuing commitment to the museum and its projects. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the exhibitions four curators, who, in the spirit of collaboration and discovery that has defined this undertaking from its outset, have devoted a substantial amount of their time and creativity to selecting and writing about the photographs. The difficult task of locating so many photographers scattered throughout the world and bringing to light essential information about their work was accomplished only through their expertise and dedication. Finally, it is the artists and lenders who have truly made the showing of these works at the Guggenheim Museum possible. To them I owe my deepest appreciation. Acknowledgments Clare Bell, Okwui Enwezor, Danielle Tilkin, Octavio Zaya From the beginning ol our research, it became abundantly clear that in order to present the works 01 photographers from Africa who now reside or lived in diverse countries on and outside that continent, we would need to rely on the guidance or numerous individuals and organizations. What we could not anticipate was the enormous outpouring of support for the project at every turn and, above all, the extraordinary amount 01 time and extort given unselfishly by everyone involved in its realization. We are deeply indebted to the staid at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, especially Thomas Krens, Director, ror providing us with the necessary resources to lullill our ideas and the I reedom in which to shape them. We would like to extend our most sincere gratitude to )av Levenson, I )eputv I )irector lor Program Administration, tor his counsel and aid in overseeing the museum's festival or African art. Our appreciation also goes out to Germano Lelant, Curator of Contemporary Art, and Carmen Gimenez, Curator of 1 wentieth- Century Art, for their support during various phases of the project. The coordination of the project was truly dependent upon the boundless skills and tireless efforts o! Regina Woods, Project Curatorial Assistant, who worked on every phase of the exhibition and catalogue; the proficiency, knowledge, and enthusiasm she brought to the project were extraordinary. We also extend our gratitude to Aileen Rosenberg, Assistant Registrar, for her invaluable assistance in working through the multifarious details necessary to bring the works to New York. Special thanks go to members of the museum's Art Services and Preparations team for their expertise and advice on fabrication, framing, and construction. 1 hey include Peter Costa, Project Services Manager/Exhibition Design Coordinator; Peter Read, Production Services Manager/Exhibition Design Coordinator; David Yeater, Chief Preparator; Bryn Jayes, Assistant Preparator; Gillian McMillan, Conservator; James Cullinane, Senior Exhibition Technician; David Heald, Photographer; Sally Ritts, Photography and Permissions Associate; Ellen Labenski, Photography Assistant; Jocelyn Groom, Exhibition technician/ Administrative Assistant; William Smith, Exhibition Technician; Jon Brayshaw, Museum I echnician/ Carpenter; David Johnson, Museum Technician/Carpenter; Tom Radloff ; and Miren Arenzana. For their essential contributions, we also thank George McNeely, Director of Corporate and Foundation Giving; Amy Husten, Manager of Budget and Planning; Jin Hong, Controller; Maureen Ahearn, Accounts Payable Analyst; Christine Ferrara, Public Affairs Coordinator; Josette Lamoureux, Exhibition Assistant; and Stacey Williams, curatorial intern. Outside the Guggenheim Museum, there are many individuals and organizations whose extraordinary assistance we wish to acknowledge, in particular Djibril Sy for his efforts in locating the rich holdings m Senegal Ol vintage photographs by Salla Casset and Meissa Gave. His generosity and kindness will not be forgotten. We are also enormously grateful to the following people in Dakar, Senegal and the I nitcd States lor aiding him and the museum in accomplishing this important task: Awa Diarra Gave; Awa Dia; Abdoulaye L asset; Meven L. Pike, *< ultural Affairs Officer, and James Pollock, United States Information Service, Dakar; the stall ol the ^ entre ^ ulturel Francais; Yieux Diba; Michael Pelletier; and John I land. For their remarkable efforts in assisting us with the project, we would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Alioune Ba, Francoise Huguier, ana Jean Francois Werner, who were most giving oi their time and provided critical information ahout the photographers' work. For their aid in identifying African artists who now live around the world, we gratefully thank Gilbert Beauge, Institut de Recherches et d'Etudes sur le Monde Arahe et Musulman, Universite de Marseille; Guy Lacroix, Centre Culturel Francais, Nairobi; Brahim Alaoui, Director, and Laila Al-Wahidi, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; Vibehe Rostrup Boyesen, Project Coordinator of Images of Africa, Copenhagen; Genevieve Breerette; Rose Issa; Gavin Jantjes; Mounira Khemire; Michhet Krif a; Joan Rabascall; and Jean-Michel Rousset. Special thanks
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