To gaze at the artist’s work is to encounter the vagaries of history, to be fixed in a time mitigated by the whims of the clock, an arbitrary sequence that fails to account for how Black femininity exists both within and without modernist time.
Archive: articles
Yinka Shonibare
Shonibare created an exhibition where he wanted to show the spiritual and universal function of the African aesthetic. He created a stylised collection of works that he sought to find an historic discourse for without losing the trace of the abstract and literal interaction with western influences.
Themba Tsotsi writes about the work of Yinka Shonibare
Hybrid Sculpture (Terpsichore/Bété Guro Mask)
Africa Fashion, V & A, London
We aim to give our audiences a glimpse of the glamour and the politics of the African fashion scene. We hope that people come away with the view that African fashions are undefinable, always changing, always refusing to be pigeon-holed. We want audiences to come away inspired by the magnificence of African creativity and to want to find out more.
Christabel Johanson interviews the curator of Africa Fashion, till April 16 at V & A, London
Aso Lànkí, Kí Ató Ki Ènìyàn (‘We greet dress before we greet its wearer’) collection, 2021, Lagos, Nigeria. Lagos Space Programme. Photo: © Kadara Enyeasi
Tracy Rose: Shooting Down Babylon
It is remarkable how snugly Rose’s work fits into a museum or gallery. In spite of the unsettling manner she attacks most of her topics- racism, white supremacy, female empowerment, occluded colored identity- they are frequently layered with a veneer of artistic respectability. They are also marked by a pliability that attracts considerable commercial possibilities.
Sanya Osha on the work of Tracey Rose
Installation View Shooting Down Babylon, Zeitz Mocaa, Cape Town, 2022
Under Projects: an empty room for testing out ideas for works and shows
Under Project is primarily an empty room that’s publicly visible. After that, it’s a lot of programming, and curating, and emailing, and installing, and printing flyers on our end.
But that first point –an empty room for testing out ideas for works and shows– is really important, especially as it becomes increasingly rare in Cape Town.