10.4: Contemporary African Art (21st Century)
- Page ID
- 212972
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Introduction
Africa is the second largest of the continents; only Asia is more significant. The continent has the second largest population, with 1.341 billion people in 2020. Africa is diverse, with 54 independent countries, three still-dependent regions, and some disputed territories. The entire continent also has a very high linguistic range, with an estimated 1500 to 2000 different African languages. The European colonial powers established the current borders of each country without any consideration for the ethnic, language, or religious groupings of the people. Still today, within some nations' boundaries, conflicts erupt based on ethnic or religious differences. For centuries, only a few northern parts of Africa were part of the Arab trade routes. In the fifteenth century, European countries established trading ports along the coasts of Africa.
The competition for the rich resources in the continent grew, and eventually, much of Africa was under the control of European nations. The Europeans took the natural resources and lands of the people, especially under the brutal regimes of colonization. Although the European countries withdrew from the region, they maintained financial control over the lands through foreign investments by Western companies, moving the profits outside the African countries. This led to massive poverty in Africa; nearly one in three Africans were still in extreme poverty.[1] Director of the Africa Centre Kenneth Tharp said, "The legacy of aid means the world has been fed a diet of Africa as war-torn, poverty-stricken, without reflecting the incredible diversity of those 54 nations," he says. "Nigeria (where his father was born) is five times the size of the UK with hundreds of languages spoken. We need to start to reflect the richness of that diversity. We need to get beyond the one story and start looking at the many stories."[2]
The history of African art is ancient and travels back through time, found in individuals, tribes, and kingdoms, a long continuity based on social, economic, or governmental institutions. Today, contemporary African art cannot be categorized into a singular definition; it is as diversified as the continent's countries, defined by its contextual parameters. Each artist comes from different background, and the historical events and cultures of their ancestors and families influence their creativity and art. Western artistic disciplines were brought to Africa during colonialism, and representational art was reinforced and replaced traditional African expressions. In the early twentieth century, the dynamics of Western art changed with the advent of Impressionism, Surrealism, or Cubism, all altering the concepts of color, shape, and form. African artists also became liberated from forced traditional European methods giving birth to new changes and pursuits for modern African artists. They have also created a new unique art form as "nowhere else on the planet has become so inventive in creating sculptures, installations, and craft made from recycled found objects."
However, the treatment of female artists differs from country to country and within each nation. Female artists continue to encounter significant cultural and financial conflict. The percentage of women who support themselves as artists is exceptionally small. Females are not encouraged to become artists, and with the widespread poverty still gripping African countries, women are concerned about how to feed their children. They are not encouraged to flourish as a creative individual. Artist in this section:
- Julie Mehretu (1970-)
- Sokari Douglas Camp (1958-)
- Aida Muluneh (1974-)
- Nike Davies-Okundaye (1951-)
- Billie Zangewa (1973-)
- Zanele Muholi (1972-)
- Ghada Amer (1963-)
Julie Mehretu
Julie Mehretu (1970-) was born in Ethiopia; her father, a college professor, and her mother, an American. When Mehretu was a child, the family left Ethiopia in 1977 to escape the civil wars, moving to Michigan. Ethiopia is considered one of the sites where early Homo sapiens emerged during the Paleolithic period. Early Stone Age implements and other remains have been found, documenting the early inhabitants. By the eighth century BCE, an early kingdom was established as one of the first civilizations, leading to other regional cultures. In the first century CE, the Kingdom of Aksum emerged as the beginning of modern civilizations and great power. Through the centuries until modern times, Ethiopia has been controlled by its rulers instead of colonization, defeating any attempts from outsiders. However, civil wars often erupted between factions, disrupting stability. In the 1970s, the long-ruling Haile Selassie was overthrown, and the new leader trying to change Ethiopia into a communist country generated continual unrest. In 1991, a new government was formed based on a constitution and elections; however, discord still exists in the countryside. When Mehretu's family came to the United States, her father taught at Michigan State University. She graduated from college and attended the Rhode Island School of Design to receive an MFA.
Mehretu's art is focused on large-scale paintings with layered acrylic paint on canvas and other media on top. She bases her work on abstract images of historical events, geographical formations, or configurations of cities. Her canvases frequently include overlaid images of maps, facades, different charts, or building columns. The noise of the multiplicity of marks on her canvas reflects the speed of life in modern cities. Ra 2510 (10.4.1) is a mixture of ancient and future cities, including the Gates of Babylon and a modern stadium. Mehretu uses different points, vectors, and ink marks overlapping and intersecting. Another diagram partially hides each definition. Her background was simple tones of yellow smeared on before using inks and pencils to add the detailed intersecting lines. Co-Evolution of the Futurhyth Machine (after Kodwo Eshum) (10.4.2) has floor patterns found in mosques as its basis. Mehretu added geometric lines on top, some overlapping and forming dark conglomerations of intersections in ink representing the densely populated sections of a city. She added colored accents in horizontal, vertical, and diagonal directions as the final layers. Mehretu talks about her work as "story maps of no location." The video discusses some of her work.
This mid-career survey of Julie Mehretu covers more than two decades of the artist’s examination of painting, history, geopolitics, and displacement. The exhibition presents the most comprehensive overview to date of Mehretu’s practice and her explorations of abstraction, architecture, landscape, scale, and, most recently, figuration.
Sokari Douglas Camp
Sokari Douglas Camp (1958-) was born in Nigeria near the river delta, the town mostly populated with those from the sub-group Kalabari. The group regularly traded with Europeans and had a better economic status than others. Camp was raised by her brother-in-law, Robin Horton, a well-known English anthropologist, and shuffled between Nigeria and British boarding schools. Camp describes her transnational upbringing: "I was one of those colonial children mailed back and forth to school. So did I live in Nigeria? Quite honestly, not really. But then, did I live in England in boarding school? I'm not really sure about that either. I'm Kalabari."[3] She studied and received her BA from the Central School of Art and Design in London and an MA from the Royal College of Art in England. Camp uses her heritage from the Kalabari for her sculpted steelworks. She creates drawings for her ideas and then decides on a scale ranging from small 30 cm pieces to 5 meters. Working with steel is physical; she cuts and bends her work from sheets of steel or recycled material like oil barrels. The Niger Delta she was from is heavily polluted as oil is the main product, and oil barrels are everywhere.
Camp frequently uses Corten Steel, an alloy generally used for outdoor construction. The metal does not have to be painted and rusts when left outside. Her sculpture Corten Head (10.4.3) is made from this type of steel. The rusted head appears woven, giving the figure a lighter appearance. The traditional headdress represents multiple styles, light shining through the openwork of the steel. The statue sits outside the African Centre in London, representing the people of Africa, watching those who enter. Accessories Worn in the Niger Delta (10.4.4) depicts the modern predicament of women dressed in traditional clothing. The two women are dressed up, including extravagant gele (head wraps) of gold leaf and jewelry. However, the fancy blue dresses are made from steel, appearing like chain mail instead of comfort. Each woman carries four AK-47s and extra bandoliers of bullets, and ladies in fashionable attire protect themselves in war-torn regions. Camp shaped the oversized guns from wood and steel.
Asoebi is a traditional Yoruba dress in Nigeria worn initially for ceremonies or funerals when all participants in a family are dressed in matching clothing. The idea of identical clothing expanded beyond the family to all attendants for the occasion. However, uniform dress for a group in social settings led to competition and the mark of possible personal affluence in the quality and richness of the group's attire. Camp was inspired by the importance and love for the occasion, how women decided what to wear, and how they obtained clothing. The Lace Sweat and Tears part of the title may be comparable to the idea of blood, sweat, and tears as the tradition may be expensive and difficult for some to afford and dress like their friends. Asoebi or Lace, Sweat, and Tears (10.4.5) is part of the African Garden at the British Museum. Made from galvanized steel, the five women are dressed in the concept of Asoebi. They demonstrate the time and money it takes to create and achieve the proper look. The figures wear bright green lacy dresses with highly contrasting pink fabrics. The women wear matching pink haze head ties with multiple layers. Material Salsa (10.4.6) is made from steel and colored with acrylic paint. The mother and son become an allegory of the relationships within a family and how the dynamics change. A son is a man ready to leave home; his body is separated from his mother as his hand still reaches back. The woman is dressed in a typical African dress, and the son is wearing a Western-style jacket with logos. The mother keeps her eyes on her son as he looks to the future. The video demonstrates Camp's work and studio.
We recently had the honor to meet with Nigerian born Kalabari sculptor, Sokari Douglas Camp as she talked us through her works and inspirations growing up in the Niger Delta.
Aida Muluneh
Aida Muluneh (1974-) was born in Ethiopia; however, the family moved a lot, and she lived in Cyprus, Greece, England, Yemen, and Canada. Originally, Muluneh planned to become a lawyer until an art teacher taught her how to use a camera and darkroom to develop images. Her grandfather in Ethiopia visited the family in Canada and told her to continue following her passion for art. She went to Howard University and received her degree in film and television. Since then, she has worked as a photojournalist, returned to Ethiopia to live, and is considered a leading expert on African photography. Muluneh continues to focus on contemporary photos of Ethiopia and portraits of the people.
Muluneh combines primary colors in her photographs, not just black and white. The walls of churches in Ethiopia are covered with bright paintings in primary colors and the inspiration for her work. The colors in her work are identifiable from a distance. Muluneh also focuses on women because she thinks the gaze or look of a woman contains power and a universal expression. She starts her concepts with a sketch and thinks about the setting for the photograph, how the set will be designed, the appropriate lighting, and the character of the person she wants to establish. Muluneh is inspired by her culture's traditional dress and ornamentation and tries to incorporate them into her contemporary works.
Muluneh's 99 series (10.4.7) is a set of images of a young woman. Although African, her face and skin are covered in heavy white paint, while her hands are dark red. The woman appears to have a ghost-like quality between life and death. Covering one's body and face was common in Xhosa ceremonies when men applied white clay to themselves. Muluneh said the 99 Series captured "the story we each carry, of loss, of oppressors, of victims, of disconnection."[4]
Muluneh also explored the links and changes between generations and how personal and national experiences affect the connections. She said, "As women, especially as African women, we forget—and the world forgets—our positioning in history and religion and culture."[5] This work is inspired by the Amharic saying, Temetaleh beye, Sai Mado, Sai Mado, ye liinete eyene mouma ende beredo (As I waited for you in a distant gaze, my eyes melted like ice awaiting your return). In Sai Mado's (The Distant Gaze) (10.4.8) work, the broken glass reflects the past and present. The woman is wearing a bright red pants suit; the chair is positioned so her profile is visible. Part of her face and hands are painted red. The red stands out from the black and white checkerboard floor patterns and the blue and white cloud-filled sky. The woman dominates the image and stands out despite the noise from conflicting colors and patterns. The video is a discussion with Muluneh about her artwork.
Ethiopian photographer Aida Muluneh has been named the recipient of the 2010 CRAF's International Award of Photography at a ceremony in Italy. The prize committee said the accolade is a recognition of Aida's continued efforts to establish a photography educational-institution in her native country. "In the year that CRAF has dedicated to Africa with the exhibit 'Glimpses of Africa', the International Award of Photography awarded to this young and very accomplished photographer -- who is what's more socially committed to the creation of a school of photography dedicated to young people, in Addis Abeba -- is also intended to be in recognition of all of the young and emerging African photographers," the group said. In the following interview with Tadias.com, Aida talks about photography, working in Ethiopia, and her new book entitled Ethiopia: Past/Forward. We note that photos displayed during her discussion of the book are not necessarily included in the book. The film clips and music, which accompany her interview, are part of the artist's recent documentary also entitled Ethiopia: Past/Forward.
Nike Davies-Okundaye
Nike Davies-Okundaye (1951-) "represents the new breed of African female artist, many of whose realities are now international, though, in essence, they are perpetuating the living tradition of female artists and 'cloth-queens,' controlling heady empires of fabric- wealthy powerful women."[6] Davies-Okundaye is known as Mama Nike, an artist who has created endless designs and brought an international focus to the concept of textiles and her beautifully artistic designs. She was born in North-Central Nigeria, where traditional weaving and dyeing was common. Her mother and grandmother died when she was six. Davies-Okundaye was sent to live with her great-grandmother, from whom she learned how to weave. Using the concepts of making traditional indigo dye and adire production, she transformed original methods to produce her unique art. Indigo is a favored color of the Yoruba people. Originally, adire was locally spun cloth, tied, and dyed. Today adire techniques are varied and based on more commercially available materials. New dyeing methods included using cassava starch for the resist, metal stencils, and sewn raffia.
Davies-Okundaye learned how to use the loom from an early age and was considered a qualified weaver by the time she was ten. She was making textiles to earn money for school tuition. However, Davies-Okundaye was married off when she was only fourteen, a common practice. Her husband was a well-known musician and artist who also had fourteen other wives. Her part of the marriage lasted 15 years, and she had four children. In a room of their shared house, Davies-Okundaye taught the other wives how to weave and started the concepts she used to establish textile learning centers throughout the region. The galleries at the textile centers became places for the artist weavers to sell their work. Davies-Okundaye told artists, "You can put your work here. If I sell it, you give me 10% of the profit. That 10% goes to help the less privileged. I make enough money from my art."[7] Davies-Okundaye created a way for women to earn income and help support themselves and their families and gain independence. The idea was not always supported by the husbands as Nigerian society still maintains patriarchal ideals.
Davies-Okundaye not only wanted to help Nigerian women learn new skills and independence but also worked to maintain her culture and protect the environment. She uses natural and organic materials, including dyes made from vegetables. They also gather plastic water bottles or other environmental litter to make beads and accessories for their artwork. Davies-Okundaye said she discovered batik when melted wax from a candle fell on fabric. Now cassava paste is applied to parts of the fabric from the pattern. In her workshops, she tries to preserve the Nigerian culture and teach people how to make adire fabric with meaningful, traditional patterns. In her workshops, women also learn how to quilt, paint and embroider the fabric and design and make modern clothing, shoes, bags, necklaces, or bracelets.
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Adire patterns (10.4.9) are based on traditional patterns about historical events or stories. There are generally five types of basic design; geometric (lines, cross-hatching, circles, squares, triangles), letters (Yoruba language letters, cities, names), figural (zoomorphic or floral), celestiomorphic (images based on celestial objects), and skewmorphic (images represented are similar to their actual image). The cloth (10.4.10) is dyed with indigo leaves or grains, mixed with water and caustic soda, and fermented to make a dye. The fabric was placed in the dye and pulled out to oxidize. To form darker colors, the process is repeated. A mallet was used to beat the fabric for a sheen. Raffia tied in different patterns around pieces of the fabric and created other designs.
In the workshops Davies-Okundaye established, the spectacular fabrics they created were made into clothing for men and women. The group in the image (10.4.11) represents the colors and patterns made, each one unique from the maker. In the background are the paintings Davies-Okundaye created using dyed fabric, beads, and other found elements. The headdress Davies-Okundaye (10.4.12) is wearing is formed by layers of handwoven and dyed material sewn together to make a glorious piece of art. The small beads sewn around each layer are made from plastic water bottles found in rivers and gutters. The plastic is cut into small pieces, dyed with different colors, and shaped into a bead. Her red, oversized collar and bracelets are made from the same plastic to create the beads. Davies-Okundaye is known around the world for her work. The video is a visit to the Nike gallery and a discussion with Davies-Okundaye.
Dodo Vibes spent some time interviewing the super cool, hugely talented, highly influential Madam Nike at the Nike Art Gallery in Lagos. Watch the video and learn her amazing story.
Billie Zangewa
Billie Zangewa (1973-) creates tapestries exploring the lives and identities of Black women. She was born in Malawi and received her degree in Fine Arts from Rhodes University. Zangewa worked in Botswana, South Africa, and London. As a child, her mother worked by sewing and embroidering. She observed how women incorporated their sewing into other domestic chores. When Zangewa was training, she experimented with multiple materials before using silk as her fabric of choice. She stated, "Silk has a fabulous sheen quality, but at the same time, I think it is very modern and fashionable…Fabric is also important in that it defines my obsession with fashion and surfaces…The surface is as important as the thing you put on it."[8] Zangewa uses experiences of herself and other Black women to depict ordinary lives in what she calls "everyday feminism." Although her compositions are based on daily life, she incorporates the historical stereotype, objectification, and exploitation of the Black female form.[9] She uses textiles and assembles them into household interiors, city landscapes, and portraiture. Zangewa uses the unusual medium of textiles and thread to express women's experiences. She said, "I wanted to use this dismissed cultural thing to speak against patriarchy by creating powerful images about the importance of another dismissed thing, domesticity and the ordinary but important aspects of women's daily life and work in and around the home."[10]
The Rebirth of Black Venus (10.4.13) depicts a Black woman emerging from the cityscape. She is positioned almost sylphlike, delicately balanced on one foot. The woman rises above the controls and prejudices of the society below her, defining herself as the person she wants to be. The sash wrapping around the figure carries the words of the restrictive society. Zangewa used raw silk material and hand-stitched and embroidered the pieces of silk onto the background. The image was one of Zangewa's first figurative works and was based on her feeling about following society's general pathway of an unhappy married woman or choosing her freedom.
An Angel at My Bedside (10.4.14) depicts the artist lying in bed. She is still wearing her clothes as one would for an afternoon nap, her hands under her cheek. The silhouette of a person wearing a hat is cut out of the background. The man is unknown, is the person deceased or a lost lover or friend? The cutout adds to the feeling of loneliness in the image as she lies alone, only the shadow or memory of another person. Zangewa used bright and contrasting red and white to define the woman's dress, bringing the reality of the person to the foreground. Although orange and white are highly contrasting colors, the two colors still seem muted against her dress. The video is a discussion with Zangewa and her artwork.
Artist Billie Zangewa welcomes us at her home in Johannesburg, South Africa. As we tour the city, we learn about what inspires and influences her work. From the love for her son, to her experience of silk as a 'transformative material' – her focus is largely rooted in the home and plays into what she describes as ‘daily feminism.’
Zanele Muholi
Zanele Muholi (1972-) is a photographer focused on race and gender equality. Born in South Africa, Muholi was the youngest of eight children; their father died shortly after Muholi was born, forcing their mother to work as a maid during Apartheid in South Africa. Muholi believes people transform and transpire and is non-binary using they/them pronouns stating, "So I'm just human."[11] They has a master's degree from Ryerson University, and their thesis is based on the status of black lesbian politics in current-day South Africa. Muholi photographs self-portraits and different faces of black lesbian women, highlighting the blackness of their skin in poses by utilizing black-and-white contrasts. Muholi also uses everyday objects to portray the unique headdresses of past African sculptures and masks. They use different props and fashion ensembles to create an environment. Lesbian women in South Africa are still subject to rejection from their families and society and are frequent targets of murder and rape. Muholi's photographs portray the women making direct eye contrast defining their self-confidence and determination. Muholi described her images as, "The black body itself is the material, the black body that is ever scrutinized, and violated, and undermined."[12]
Ntozakhe II, Parktown (10.4.15) is a self-portrait in Somnyama Ngonyama (Hail the Dark Lioness) series. Muholi is wearing a toga and a crown. The crown is made from ordinary round scouring pads. The photograph was edited to significantly darken the skin to emphasize their blackness. Maids used scouring pads to wash dishes, now becoming a decorative element to raise the dignity of their work. Bester I, Mayotte (10.4.16) is another self-portrait. Muholi used clothespins for hair decoration and earrings representing unique headdresses. A tribal robe mirrors the effects of the clothespins and creates familiar imagery of the past white photographers' images. In this portrait, the clothespins were used by women to hang the wash. Their lips are heavily accented with white to contrast and emphasize the skin's blackness. Muholi said, "The black body itself is the material, the black body that is ever scrutinized, and violated and undermined."[13] The different personas allow multiple forms of blackness to occur and create interpretative forms.
Ghada Amer
Ghada Amer (1963-) was born in Egypt. Her father was a diplomat, and they moved multiple times to different countries where Amer learned about other cultures. She received a bachelor's and master's degree from the École Nationale Supérieure d'Art in France. In the 1980s, when she was an art student, the painting classes were for males only. At the time, Amer recognized her position as a woman and decided to incorporate what was usually called "women's work," including sewing and embroidery, both mediums she uses in her artwork. Amer's artwork covers various mediums, including her embroidery paintings, ceramics, and sculptures. Her work is based on the concepts of feminism and the history of male domination in art. She depicts women by taking traditional female activities and repositions them with new feminist ideas. Her models were usually erotically posed women she found in pornographic magazines. Later she began to photograph her models. Amer also uses text from different feminist writers to emphasize the emotion in her work. Although she lived in Egypt and France, she now lives in the United States, and her work incorporates the feelings of East and West into her feminine and frequently provocative views.
Amer creates brightly colored artwork, embroidered, stitched, and sewn on canvas with paint dripped and splashed to abstract the figure and words. In The Virgin Without the Child (10.4.17), Amer obscures the words and faces with her lines of embroidery and paint. The woman looks seductively outward, her face tilted. When Amer created images based on erotic women, their eyes were diverted, not looking directly at the viewer as in this image. For women she knows, their eyes look more forthrightly. Amer added words across the entire painting to emphasize the power of women saying, "There is no greater pillar of stability than a strong, free, and educated woman," a quote she found by Angelina Jolie. The words provide a cadence for the provocative look on the woman's face. The comments are abstracted and cover the face with tan letters and the hair with multiple colors. Using browns for the woman's face and bright contrasting colors for the hair allows the emotion and feelings to be seen in the tilt of her face and the look of her eyes. Amer lets the extra thread hang, like paint drips, adding motion to the work. Amer's work of Test #8 (10.4.18) is a declaration about the social conditions women face and the resolve to change societies. The sentence "One is not born but rather becomes a woman" is repeated repeatedly. Each letter is painted and outlined with embroidery. Amer lets the threads cross, connect, and hang down to give the words interconnection and yet the tangled complexity of reality.
Amer made a series of metal sculptures intertwining the outlines of the female figure and text. Her sculptures are open and filigreed, similar to images of Arabic architecture. The filigreed screens seen in Arab buildings allow the figure to be hidden yet seen. Amer makes her sculptures stand on their complex weight and shape instead of mounting them on armatures. Blue Bra Girls (10.4.19) portrays nude female figures and their interwoven hair. The sculpture is made with polished stainless steel in an open filigree structure. Amer based the sculpture on a young woman beaten in one of the Egyptian protests, her blue bra exposed as she remained veiled. The sculpture was a tribute by Amer to the women standing up for their beliefs. Amer said, "I had an idea for a sculpture where women would look defiantly at the public. I thought it was important that they should all have their eyes open and be looking at the viewer. I also wanted the women standing instead of lying down. Then the 'blue bra girl' incident took place, so I called the piece after that, as an homage to all those women who stand up for themselves and fight."[14] The sculpture 100 Words of Love (10.4.20) is a compilation of one hundred Arabic words meaning love. The letters are intertwined, forming an open lattice-like form. Amer used epoxy resin to create the letters and added acrylic color. The choice of words was not based on sentimentality. These words were part of a woman's daily domestic and societal life and the stereotypical gender roles women dealt with. Amer brought the openness of her embroidered paintings to sculptures, creating abstract and open spaces with the female form and lettering in metal and resin. The video is an interview with Amer.
In our final profile for ‘NOMEN: American Women Artists from 1945 to Today’, Ghada Amer describes her reluctance to participate in a show specific to female artists, noting that ultimately, there are still major strides to be taken in achieving equal representation.
[1] Retrieved from https://newafricanmagazine.com/19828/
[2] Retrieved from https://www.artsindustry.co.uk/featu...don-for-africa
[3] Collier, G. (ed.), Delrez, M. (ed.), Fuchs, A. (ed.) (2012). Engaging with Literature of Commitment. Volume 1: Africa in the World (Cross/Cultures – Readings in the Post/Colonial Literatures and Cultures in English, Rodopi, p. 242.
[4] Retrieved from https://www.kinfolk.com/aida-muluneh/
[5] Retrieved from https://africa.si.edu/collections/ob...13776220&idx=0
[6] Retrieved from https://africanah.org/nike-davies-okundaye/
[7] Retrieved from https://colorsxstudios.com/editorials/mama-nike
[8] Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20170420...id=956&lang=fr
[9] Retrieved from https://hirshhorn.si.edu/event/artis...yday-feminism/
[10] Retrieved from https://www.icaboston.org/art/billie...lf-care-sunday
[11] Retrieved from https://www.out.com/art/2019/4/23/za...south-africans
[12] Retrieved from Emine Saner. “‘I’m scared. But this work needs to be shown’: Zanele Muholi’s 365 protest photographs.” The Guardian, July 14, 2017. https://www.gervaismarsh.com/work/za...f-detail-pzyfj
[13] Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/artandde...st-photographs
[14] Retrieved from https://nationalzoo.si.edu/object/nmafa_2018-2-1