Nxumalo’s exhibition was an exercise in how the black male body seeks to find a form of redemption in a culture that is gluttonous with representation and its capability to take voice and power from its subject.
Archive: articles
Fabrice Monteiro
Photography has always been of great importance, from the first postcards produced in colonial times that were major tools for racial propaganda to the proliferation of local studio photographers like Seydou Keita in Mali and Mama Casset in Senegal that gave early-twentieth-century Africans the opportunity to choose how they were represented
Evan D. Williams in conversation with Belgium-born, Senegal-based Fabrice Monteiro
Holy II, from Vues de l’esprit, 2012
Mental Health in Black Art
Being able to express oneself without words is a powerful tool in making wellbeing accessible for those without the confidence to voice how they feel. Experiencing emotions vicariously through other’s work, whether they are your own emotions reflected or new ways to empathise with others, is a priceless gift. And in the economics of health, art is a valuable currency which has an international value.
Christabel Johanson on Mental Health in Black Art
Tsoku Maela, redifining mental illness
Girmachew Getnet
I come from a country, Ethiopia, that was never colonized. I want to pass on my love and respect to my companions who went to war against colonization and defeated Italy. Today I am proud of these people and being Ethiopian, but I have never forgotten that I am also African. And the rest of Africa was colonized. People in the colonized countries lost their original name, tradition, culture, language and religion. All this has been changed by Western cultures.
Girmachew Getnet in conversation with Rob Perrée
The ‘Man, Mask and Myth’ project of Solomon Ona Irein Wangboje
Man is the centre of the universe. His endless struggle for security and survival has created room for myths about life and death as well as other unforeseen circumstances that control his existence. These myths have resulted in practices in traditional African societies where the mask is believed to have magico-religious powers and can be used to ward off evil spirits. The traditional artist is thus motivated to create the appropriate mask to serve the desired functions in his society.