Curating Africa

Africana da África| Africa | Art | Politics | Commentary | Perspectives... 

[curating-africa]

Peju Alatise’s Flying Girls, an installation of eight winged life-size girls, based on the story of a 10-year-old girl, who works as a housemaid in Lagos while imagining an alternate reality where she is free and can fly.

[curating-africa]

Chinelo Okparanta looks at six West African books that each take a unique look at relationships

Nigerian-American author Chinelo Okparanta recently compiled a list for Electric Literature of six West African books with an unconventional, defiant approach to gender relations and relationships.

[curating-africa]

© Everyday Africa: 30 Photographers Re-Picturing a Continent

[curating-africa]

In many ways then Adichie occupied a unique place in contemporary black women’s thought and literature for at least a decade before the phrase black girl magic was coined as a hashtag, and as the motto for a new generation’s struggle for recognition and self-love. Adichie is African of course, but because she began writing in a world that was more global than it had ever been, because she traveled so frequently between Nigeria and America, she was easily claimed as a member of a much larger global African diaspora. She may technically belong to two countries, but she is collectively seen as a daughter or a sister to black people in a broader sense.

A brief history of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, stanning and the trap of #blackgirlmagic | SISONKE MSIMANG

[curating-africa]

©  Nikki Zakkas

[curating-africa]

I’m fascinated by the complexity of South African society. The majority of people are conservative — across racial lines. Our constitution, however, is one of the most progressive when it comes to the protection of human rights. South Africans have thus far improvised and reoriented themselves to co-exist in a system of law that challenges their orthodox predisposition

Ralph Mathekga |  When Zuma Goes

[curating-africa]

#CelebrateAfrica

The #CelebrateAfrica campaign launched by NewAfrican, Canon and Picfair to share the Africa its citizens want to see and challenge stereotypes set of the continent. 

Enter the competition here: https://www.picfair.com/celebrateafrica. Be one of 100 winners – and stand the chance to go on a trip for two to a destination of your choosing and Canon camera equipment, including DSLR cameras.

[curating-africa]

(P)residant: Those who don't let go of power"

I call them 'les presidents residants' because they never want to leave power once in the seat." – Fabrice Monteiro, photographer, Dakar.

[curating-africa]

When you are surrounded by vultures, try not to die

Ivorian proverb

An African Leader Bestiary

[curating-africa]

“My heart breaks for the African refugees experiencing xenophobia in South Africa, especially coming from South Sudan, as I do, where all we know is instability, fear, anxiety and psychological trauma caused by the ongoing civil war and the tribal clashes. There is nothing worse for a refugee than to relive the traumas that should be distant memory. The anxiety and fear that comes with xenophobia is something that one African person should not wish on another”

 -  Nykhor Paul

[curating-africa]

Trebene is an ethical fashion brand that designs, prints and hand-weaves luxury cashmere scarves in Kashmir. Launched in 2015 by South Africa-based socially conscious entrepreneur Bushera Bashir, the label combines the rich heritage of the luxurious textile with modern and contemporary designs.

[curating-africa]

in six African countries, there is no legal protection for women against domestic violence. In 2013, African women and girls accounted for 62 percent of all global deaths from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. An estimated 130 million girls and women alive today have undergone female genital mutilation, mainly in Africa. If current trends continue, almost half of the world’s child brides in 2050 will be African.

Women's Rights in Africa

[curating-africa]

Lhola Amira – Looking for Ghana & The Red Suitcase

4 February 2017 to 1 April 2017

A series of photographs, an installation, and a video work piece that are rooted in Lhola Amira’s recent project in Ghana.

The South African artist engaged with current issues of contention while she was on the continent, through a number of appearances and interactions. In her signature fusion of politics, economics and art, Lhola Amira developed Looking for Ghana & The Red Suitcase as the first installment of further physical investigations into assumption, contradictions and associations placed on contemporary definitions of Africa.

[curating-africa]

Black History Month: Honouring past heroes

Nigerian artist Fred Martins has created a new series using symbols of butterflies and fists to represent soul and power in Black History Month.

The butterfly in these images, Nigerian artist Fred Martins explains, symbolises life or the soul in many cultures: "I grant that it expresses hope, change and freedom". The fist, on the other hand, represents power, bravery and unity.

“It all defines the suffering inflicted and the strength exhibited by the African ancestors who were ardent and concerned about protecting the future of Africa, and the message they tried to communicate to the present and future Africa.”

[curating-africa]

‘Félicité’

Alain Gomis' character study of a struggling single mother in Kinshasa evolves into something far more sensually complex than it initially seems.

Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans, goes the old saying — though for the variously stymied characters of “Félicité,” life hits them when they have no plan at all. A loose, vibrant fourth feature film from Franco-Senegalese director Alain Gomis, “Félicité” likewise builds to a fever of energy and activity while never sketching out more than the bones of a narrative: It’s a film in which a hard-earned smile, the contact between one person’s skin and another’s, or a serene strain of music amid the everyday noise can qualify as a dramatic event. Following a proudly independent club singer through the ragged streets of Kinshasa as she seeks a way to save her hospitalized son, Gomis’ latest is far from the miserablist issue drama that synopsis portends, instead weaving a sensual, sometimes hopeful, sometimes disturbing urban tapestry with threads of image, sound, poetry, and song. 

[curating-africa]

Emerging photographer Daniel Effah on the representation of Africa abroad

[curating-africa]

The Fearless Feminist Artist Taking Down South Africa's 'Bro Code'

Johannesburg-based Lady Skollie is colonizing London with her first solo UK exhibition, Lust Politics at Tyburn Gallery. Lady Skollie, born Laura Windvogel, tells The Creator’s Project that making art tackling these issues is “sometimes a bit tricky” in South Africa, a country which is alleged to have among the highest rates of rape and sexual violence in the world. “We have things like the ‘bro code,’ molestation, rape — all of these things happen and men aren’t held accountable,” she says. “I think accountability is key for people to heal and for people to feel heard and understood.”