Since my college days, I’ve been experimenting a lot with different materials. To me, each idea normally chooses its own material. In the last 5 years, I’ve been experimenting with paper. For this body of work, paper was the perfect material. I wanted to work with layers. The idea isn’t about the completeness of works but the process. This includes the physical creation process. And the process of these characters was more based on layers.
Moshekwa Langa’s work can be characterised as ‘psycho geographical mapping’, an idea that incorporated the symbolic function of the short and small brushstrokes that comprises the pieces. It also emphasises the function of the atmospheric effect of the works
For me as an artist, I want to be known as an artist, at the end of the day I want to be known as a human, I just want to be respected. But sometimes I choose for African American artist, in many ways we need to be acknowledged for our contributions to the world. And I think we have given a lot of contributions and a lot of them haven’t been acknowledged.
Africanah.org at 5: We celebrate the 5th anniversary of this magazine with the re-publication of a number of remarkable essays or interviews. The last article in this series is on Sokari Douglas Camp, written by Allison Young, first published May 8, 2016.
While the Nigerian-born artist has become renowned for her sculptural adaptations of traditional Kalabari masks, and for her pointed critiques of Western museological displays of African visual culture objects, this exhibition shows the artist, instead, in dialogue with the history of Western art.
Tosari is different from his predecessors. He combines different printing techniques in his graphic works, he adds depth and layering. Tosari is conscious that he has to communicate a message, but this does not stop him from making room for detailing and originality. His predecessors were sometimes more limited in their technical options – the early Mexicans for instance –, but they were also often less professional and creative. The visual language of revolutionary printed matter was standardized to a large extent.