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 interview Rob Perrée had with Derek Fordjour, almost 5 years ago, was remarkable because of what happened later on with his career. The Ghanaian-American artist was at that time a starting artist, promising, known in small circles. Now he is one of the most successful black artists in the US.
Through inundating the canvas with paint, it will be demonstrated that Masamvu through the facility of the canvas has acquired a spiritual outlet for expressing not just his emotions, but also the means to represent the body in its dynamic and corporeal forms. The artist states that this exhibition was ‘’…celebration and … a dance’’.
Self-fulfilment is the primary reason I do the work. That is why I insert and immerse myself in the work. Even when I am doing painting or textile work, I find a way of portraying self in the work. Raising awareness of issues is the reason I do live art. I like it because the impact is direct and immediate. I almost force my audience to react instantly.
Africanah.org at 5: We celebrate the 5th anniversary of this magazine with the re-publication of a number of remarkable essays. This one is on Kerry James Marshall. In 2013 he said in an interview with Rob Perrée: “We could not refer to our role in art history, because we did not play a role in that history.” (https://africanah.org/kerry-james-marshall-i-call-attention-absence-black-presence/). Now you can say that Marshall has a place in the Western canon of art. The exhibition ‘Mastry’ made that very clear. Julia Geerlings wrote this article on that show. In December 2016.
A typical example of contemporary censorship under democracy was enacted by South African curators, students and art-world activists in Cape Town, featuring the burning of around 75 paintings, including ”Hovering Dog” by South African poet, visual artist and veteran anti-Apartheid dissident Breyten Breytenbach on the Cape Town University Campus in February 2016.