African Art Research Articles

The Landbound Chicken and the Deliberate Chameleon yet have their Uses: Yorùbá Art History, Language, and Interpretation.

Rowland Abiodun’s Yorùbá Art and Language contains many extremely valuable features, wrapped around a question he raises in its introduction: can foreign scholars ever truly understand a work the way its Yorùbá makers and users do? Language mastery certainly provides the native speaker with access to inestimable insights regarding not only general worldview, but specifics of philosophy, history keeping, and subtleties of knowledge transmission. However, in the attempt to read an artwork and unpack its meaning, cultural in[1]siders also face obstacles as well as advantages, particularly when pieces date from the more distant past. The import of Abiodun’s major contributions regarding Yorùbá art’s history and the validity of his contentions are considered here in light of the varied contributions both foreign and Yorùbá art historians bring to Yorùbá scholarship, in the recognition that working with art of bygone centuries makes all scholars outsiders to a degree.
 
 A kì í gbójú-u fífò lé adìẹ àgàgà; à kì í gbójú-u yíyan lé alágẹmọ. One should not expect the flightless chicken to soar; one should not expect the chameleon to stride.
 
 Can outsiders ever truly understand a work of art the way its makers and users do? In the introduction to his book Yorùbá Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art, Rowland Abiodun concludes that only those with a mastery of the Yorùbá language and deep cultural familiarity can interpret Yorùbá artworks effectively. His argument produces numerous salie observations and the viewing framework he creates provides an exceedingly valuable set of lenses for interpreting Yorùbá sculpture. However, the question posed above remains intriguing, and is more complex than it appears. Even when an artist and his patron live in the same community at the same time, their interpretations of a commissioned work may not be identical, so when one moves out to the analyses of art historians, Yorùbá or not, one cannot necessarily assume a third party will understand the work just as its maker and user did. Additional corollaries to the question exist as well. What are the parameters of outsider status? Do they constitute a spectrum? Do insider advantages always trump outsiders’ perceptions? These issues become even more pertinent as distance from our own era increases. While the question of outsider/insider status does not constitute the thrust of Abiodun’s book, it is a major aspect of his introduction, and thus worth considering.1 While this paper considers the unique multiple contributions of Abiodun’s book, it also argues that careful considerations of objects and context can be made by outsiders, while insiders, like all researchers, can choose to ignore elements that conflict with their own preconceptions, develop greater interest in one topic than another, generalize their known experience to the whole of Yorubaland or apply it half a millennium into the past. While these perspectives differ, one does not automatically eclipse the other.

Yoruba Epistemology, Art, Language and the Universe of Meanings: A Meta-Analysis

I had the rare privilege of delivering in proxy the original paper of Professor Moyo Okediji at the African Studies Association meeting, where it was first presented on December 2, 2016. Although short in quantity, I consider it to be loaded in quality, contents, intents, intensities, and in its ability to problematize a discourse critical to our understanding of indigenous scholarship and all its epistemological implications that span the entire landscape of the humanities. Indeed, Okediji’s pedagogy is the proverbial Yoruba drum of “ògìdìgbó” which is revealed only to the wise and the prudent, and they are the only two capable of effectively dancing to its rhythm. The paper reminds one of the title of the memoir of Ellen DeGeneres, the famous American comedian, titled Seriously . . . I’m Kid[1]ding. Even as a non-apologist of Ellen DeGeneres, or of any other American comedian for that matter, one would find profound meaning to that title, and embrace it as very deep and philosophical. Like in many Shakespearean plays, many truths are expressed in the acts of the jesters, not in the court of the privileged kings and pundits. This is exactly the way I responded to Okediji’s beautiful write-up. It got me thinking. It is a needed shock therapy, an organic rendition of an intellectual exposition of the Yoruba art. This commentary is janus-faced. On one hand, it looks at the unique way in which Moyo Okediji critiqued the work of Rowland Abiodun, Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art. On the other, it concurs with Abiodun’s thesis of the indispensability of the Yoruba language and oral tradition in the understanding of the Yoruba art.
 In his contribution to the roundtable forum on Professor Abiodun’s book at the African Studies Association in Washington, DC (December 1-3, 2016), Okediji provided his full presentation in Yoruba language, unalloyed (see the first essay in this forum). In order to broaden the scope of his readership and audiences, I chose to translate his write-up to the English language (Appendix 1). However, I used the translation to underscore the challenges of inter-cultural interpretation. The translation process demonstrates the problem of using one language to dissect another language without the depth of knowledge of the cultural make-up of the originator of the text. The attempt provides the data in which we are able to draw conclusions on a variety of issues: One, it highlights the futility of translation of a cultural theme at any level; two, it speaks to the frustration inherent in the imposition of one language over the art and culture of another; and three, it demonstrates the need for a cultural understanding between the originator of a text and the translator as precluding any reasonable translation and/or interpretation of the text. Using my attempt at translating as an example, I argue that at the very best what my effort could produce was an interpretation rather than a translation of Okediji’s text. I then argue that Okediji’s text brings to light the main thrust of Abiodun’s argument, which is that the indigenous language that births the art and culture of a people is the only channel through which the said art and culture could be most accurately interpreted or critiqued. Any attempt at superimposing other languages on the art can only result in a secondary, if not tertiary, interpretation and consequently a watered-down version of the original. The corollary is that such attempt will of necessity tamper with the sacred epistemological authenticity of the language-art-culture continuum.

On the Imperative of Language for Understanding African Art

I was deeply touched and honored by the roundtable organized at the 2016 African Studies Association Conference to focus on my book, Yoruba Art and Language: Seeking the African in African Art (2014). I want to thank Professor Funṣọ Afọlayan for contacting and bringing together a formidable group of scholars of Yorùbá art and culture to that end. I was gratified that, by and large, all the panelists endorsed my premise on the fundamental importance of language in Yorùbá art studies. The first paper by Moyọ Okediji was a pleasant surprise. Even though this possibility has always existed, as I had taught a course in Yorùbá art entirely in Yorùbá language at the University of Ifẹ (renamed Ọba ̀ ́fẹmi Awo ́ ́lọẃ ọ University) in ̀ the 1980s1 , no one was expecting that his entire contribution to the roundtable discussion would be presented in Yorùbá language. Why not? I realized. The language is as fully developed as any other language in the world and it can, and should be spoken as well as written -- especially when we discuss Yorùbá art. For the benefit of those not literate in Yorùba language, Michael Af ́ ọlayan gave an elegant translation of Okediji’s paper in English. The excellent contents and presentation by Okediji touched on issues that lay at the heart of my book, namely its methodology and its insistence on the need for a Yorùbá voice to be heard literally and metaphorically in art historical discourse.

The “Africanization” of an African Diaspora Household: Toyin Falola and the Idea of Diasporic Home-Making

This essay is an exercise in the interrogation of cultural globalization, and how the idea of transnationalism generates identity responses. The authors used the concept of home-making to examine how Toyin Falola deployed an aesthetic sensibility of African art as ideological dynamics for the personalization of his home situated in a suburb in Austin, Texas. The Africanization agenda that the Falola house operationalized points at the critical role that interior decoration can play in African diaspora homes. The project is crucial because it undermines the homogenizing reach of globalization that dislocates the sense of identity of an average African transnational migrant. In the Falola home, we confront an assemblage of aesthetic consciousness, dynamics of Africanity, and identity construction.

Epistemic Roots, Universal Routes and Ontological Roofs of African “Ritual Archives”: Disciplinary Formations in African Thought

Epistemic Roots, Universal Routes and Ontological Roofs of African “Ritual Archives”: Disciplinary Formations in African Thought

The Art and life of Alàgbà Fálétí – A Pic torial, Art and Artifacts Exhibition in Honor of Alàgbà Adébáyọ̀ Fálétí (1921- 2017) curated by Akinsola Adejuwon and Seyi Ogunjobi

Alàgbà Adébáyọ Fálétí to generations both in “town and gown” is a Yorùbá ̀ iconic cultural statement. His life was a window to different historical epochs in Nigeria. A life that spanned and recorded historical trajectories of early colonial, decolonisation, independent movement, First and Second World Wars, and Nigerian Civil War, Military and Civilian Rules experiences of Nigeria, is worth studying. The Institute of Cultural Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University Ile Ife in recognition of the deep engraving of the footprints of Fálétí in the sands of Yorùbá, indeed African times, called for befitting academic and cultural activities. Among these are this art and artifacts exhibition, a Colloquium, a Playlet and Documentary Film Show. Fálétí’s intense dedication to the promotion of the Yorùbá ọmọlúàbí cultural ethos and his deployment of his God-given talents and acquired capabilities in the promotion of Yorùbá literary and visual arts, history, poetry, orature, cinema and indeed 1 This is a review of the 2-week pictorial, art and artifacts exhibition in Honor of Alagba Adebayo Faleti in 2017 at the Institute of Cultural Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, curated by Akinsola Adejuwon and Seyi Ogunjobi.
 
 Reviews 192 Akinsola Adejuwon African arts in general, is not lost on all Fálétí enthusiasts. Furthermore, his remarkable service as Senior Art Fellow at the Institute of Cultural Studies OAU completes the Institute’s resolution to capture the worthy legacy in the appropriate location even with the inauguration of an Alàgbà Adébáyọ Fálétí ̀ Library, Institute of Cultural Studies. Within a lifetime of close to one century, Fálétí delivers perhaps unique classical Yorùbá messages in words matched with action, first to Africa and then the world. This review looks at the pictorial and art exhibition covering the world of Alàgbà Adébáyọ̀ Akande Fálétí. It is an assessment of a thematic display of selected pictures and objects which probably placed the observer within the environment and with people Fálétí related with. The images, pictures, artworks and objects in the display were segmented into five major parts. These focused mainly on Alàgbà Fálétí’s parentage, early childhood, education within pristine Yorùbá-driven legacies of the Ọyọ̀ -́ Yorùbá type, Family life over-written from data flowing from core Yorùbá ethical and artistic ‘motherboard.’ Represented also are years of adolescence and expressions of early youthful forays under various tutelary influences, variegated working periods, writing and acting plus public service careers. Alàgbà Fálétí’s childhood coincided with the period when the British Colonial Government had taken over administration of entire geographical space known as Nigeria. In spite of introduction of foreign culture and customs into Nigeria by the Europeans, Yorùbá culture remained resilient. Hence, we could imagine that the childhood of Alàgbà Fálétí was not radically different from Samuel Johnson’s description of features of Yorùbá childhood as characterised by ‘freedom’ (Johnson: 2009, pp.98-100). These facets of life are arranged in a flow of one hundred and thirty-two frames of pictures and images appropriately hanged on the gallery wall boards, awards, artworks and objects displayed on individual stands. The montage produced by the flow of images on exhibition probably rallied to install both the titular and tutelar toga of ‘Alàgbà’ on Fálétí. Perhaps this also developed from a character evincing deep and cultured qualities over the last century. Qualities projectable only from such roundly home-grown dignitary. An all-round Yorùbá man from the core to the marked skin on his face.

The black female body: Representation of the erotic in contemporary visual art in Africa

Black sexual politics and its interaction with the eroticized female body in African art are still surprisingly underexplored topics in African academia (“African” not “Africanist”, to follow the distinction made by Jones in “African Scholarship, Eurocentricism and the Politics of Knowledge”). This gap is curious given the surge of contemporary African artists utilizing erotic imagery generated through 18th-century scientific racism, and its perpetuation in the imperialist epistemic structures of institutions — such as museums — in the centuries following. An icon such as Sara Baartman, the South African Khoikhoi woman exhibited at European freak shows in the early 1800s, is a poignant example of haunting images that represent the spectacular denigration of the black female body. Moreover, historically, the artistic canon has often given the perception of the black woman’s body as grotesque, animalistic, systematically subordinate, or fetishized. However, through artwork, the same body that was once unsightly has become a call to arms, suggesting that instead of continued victimization, black women wield the ‘erotic’ body as a resistance tool. African female artists are engaging with themes of eroticism and sexuality as inextricably entangled with historical violence and trauma through performance, live art, and painting. This article aims to interrogate the use of the erotic as a mechanism to navigate the complex terrain of post-colonial identities, power, and the abiding historical ‘weight’ of the colonial archive. To accomplish this, it will present several fundamental arguments that feed into black feminist interrogations of the body including a meditation on body politics and gender being rewritten into the colonial paradigm. Through the examination of the work of two prominent artists — Tracey Rose and Lady Skollie of South Africa — the author synthesizes various representations of the erotic, coupled with how it engages with issues of history and reappropriation of the black female form. Using Baartman as a guiding symbol, this article will argue that contrary to its previous confinements as an overly policed trope, the black female body is charged with an artistic power that explodes, leaks, and subverts the historical narrative, making it a constantly evolving archetype in contemporary visual art.

Building global art infrastructure from Nigeria: ART X Lagos and Lagos Biennial 2019“We Are Our Own Sun”

The paper argues that developments in art infrastructure on the African continent strengthen African perspectives within the global art ecosystem. Although dichotomies of centre/periphery have been much critiqued, the ascendant contemporary African art market of the last two decades (Enwezor & Okeke-Agulu) continues to be valorised in Euro-American art capitals under hegemonic systems of aesthetic value judgment and critique based on Western positions (Corrigall). Case studies of two institutional interventions, ART X Lagos (art fair) and Lagos Biennial (both 2019), demonstrate a shift in the focus of art narratives and histories to Nigeria and provide examples of a re-shaping of global art infrastructure from the African continent. Based on ethnographic research including participant observation, interviews with curators and artists, as well as interpretations of art venues and artworks, the article intertwines an empirical and theoretical approach grounded in post/decolonial critique, an approach heavily engaged with art and curatorial practice. The article contributes to empirical knowledge about art events in Nigerian spaces and understanding creative contexts on the continent. It concludes that collaborative efforts by Nigerian and African diaspora artists are focused on strengthening Lagos as an art centre — its ‘own sun’ — in a regional and continental art ecosystem. Ultimately this draws the attention of Western art institutions and realigns international circuits of contemporary art towards Nigeria.

The Geographies of Artists and Stall holders at Afrikaans Arts Festivals, South Africa

South African arts festivals have been the subject of considerable research, with a focus on the economics, attendee patterns and impacts on local communities. Importantly, numerous role-players (stall holders, artists, festival attendees, amongst others) contribute to the diversity, origin and character of these arts festivals. Despite this, little is known of their mobility, spatiality and geographies. To this end, artists and stall holders across five large Afrikaans Language Arts festivals were interviewed to establish their itineraries, travel behaviours, festival involvement and cultural expression. On this basis, this study hopes to enable a better understanding of the geographies of Afrikaans arts festivals. Results suggest that artists and stall holders contribute significantly to shaping the geographies of these arts festivals as they are the most mobile of all participants. Their mobility creates a shared or communal festival geography – albeit now severely disrupted by COVID-19 – across Afrikaans arts festival boundaries. Unfortunately, this shared geography may also undermine the local flavour, authenticity, and regional diversity of such arts festivals.

The Oral Thing and its Digital Double in Contemporary Tiv Society: The step Forward of Ashi Waves F.M Radio, Katsina-Ala, Nigeria.

Oral artistic expressions, in their various categories like myths, legends, riddles, proverbs, folktales etc however, seem to be disappearing in the wake of urban, cross-cultural hybridism, industrial modes of production, and the encroachments of scientific and technological scales of reference. The closely-knit oral society of the group is gradually fading away, as learning has become less restricted to the authority of memory to transmit from elders to the young ones. There temporary seems to be a ‘dead end’ to oral arts and cultures. The vibrancy of the oral artistic expressions, however, has emerged and morphed into new patterns in the new media thereby creating verdant fields and platforms for interrogating the African oral art and making meaning in the contemporary computer-mediated society. The oral thing has gained a digital double (specify what this means) in its multi-mediated orality in the electronic studios as they help shape arts and culture in Africa. This paper examines the synergy of oral artistic productions and the new media in Tiv society by exploring the implications in the ‘co-habitation’, and the vistas and potentialities of this digital double. The paper posits that the digital double, as facilitated by Ashi Waves F.M Radio, Benue State, Nigeria, points to the future of the oral artistic product and its cultural reconstruction, as postcolonial societies continue to embrace technological innovations creating their own stories.

Fluidity and fixity of performer, audience and performing space

Performance Theory is one of the theories which have by far removed several inconsistencies and contradictions in analysing orature, notably African orature. Unlike former theories which took texts as a basis in interpreting orature, Performance Theory considers performance as a socially situated aesthetic communication between the performer and the audience both of whom participate in the process as active agents. However, some of its notions are heavily influenced by western theatre. Consequently, some conceptual details go unnoticed because, instead of enriching the notions from the first-hand experience of the African oral arts, western concepts are used instead. This paper seeks to challenge some of the performance conceptual axioms by showing aspects that were taken for granted. Most of the concepts, particularly performer, audience and performance space (stage) were for quite a long time treated as separate fundamental performance entities. In this paper, I attempt to refute these truisms and instead argue that, in practice, these notions are fluid except for only a few of them. A wide variety of examples are given to testify arguments put forward. The paper concludes by emphasising that African orature genres are more characterised by fluidity and only a few of them are really fixed. In addition, some elements of African orature performances are ephemeral and sometimes unexpected.

Black Gold: A Black Feminist Art History of 1920s Montréal

The 1920s have been touted as the golden era of jazz and Black history in Montréal. Similarly, the decade is well known for the Harlem Renaissance, a key moment in African American art history. Yet this period in Black Canadian art histories remains largely unknown. As a first step toward shedding some light on this period in Black Canadian art history, I propose to use what I term a Black feminist art-historical (bfah) praxis to discuss some visual art practices undoubtedly active alongside well-known jazz musicians and cultural producers in 1920s Montréal. This paper presents an overview of critical race art history and feminist art history, as well as Black feminist approaches to visual representation, to outline what might be considered four tenets of bfah praxis. Applying these tenets, I propose that a new art history may emerge from well-known art objects and practices as well as lesser-known ones. I posit that through a deliberately bfah approach, new meanings emerge and the voices of Black women, even when obstructed by mainstream white narratives, may begin to stand out and shed light upon a variety of histories. This praxis aims to underline the subtext lurking at the edges of these images and to make intangible presences visible in the archive and in art history. I propose bfah as a strategy for more nuanced discussion of the work of Black Canadian artists and histories that have by and large been left out of official records.

The Museum of Black Civilisations, between History and Utopia

The Museum of Black Civilisations, between History and Utopia

Nelson Makamo’s representations of African vernacular rooted images of black children

ABSTRACT My paper offers an interpretative approach using visual analysis. In doing so, the paper contributes a discourse on artworks by the South African artist, Nelson Makamo, and focuses on the images drawn from black children. And ‘the predominant theme, black child, is examined as African vernacular rooted images. He uses the motif of the African child to reflect on different’lived experiences of black children in South Africa. Thus, his paintings and drawings were selected and ‘analysed for their formal content and contexts, and the discussion is framed by the insight gained through interviews with the artist’. While several ideas are reflected in each of the works analysed, the works highlight the contemporary social issue of homelessness experienced by rural-urban migrants, the early training of a black child in carrying out responsibility, the socio-ethical humanism in African communities, especially in the upbringing of black African child, and the effects of technology on regard for African cultural values in a young African child who adopts headphone in the postcolonial era. Through these, it is argued that Makamo’s representations of ‘black African children engage a discourse that contributes to global contemporaneity’.

(Re)Presenting the role of iconography in African Christian liturgy: A case study of Serima Mission in the Catholic Diocese of Gweru in Zimbabwe (1948–2021)

This article examines the role of iconography in African Christian liturgy with a particular focus on Serima Mission in the now Catholic Diocese of Gweru in Central Zimbabwe. Of all Catholic missions in Zimbabwe, Serima Mission is perhaps the most popular in iconography with innumerable sets of wood and stone carvings portraying mostly religious scenes based on African designs and patterns. The atmosphere at Serima Mission, particularly the church interior, presents an expression of the power of African art, visual language, summation of the Catholic faith, and the otherness and transcendental nature of the omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent Christian God. This article firstly presents the history and impact of Serima African School of iconography under the tutelage of Fr John Groeber. Furthermore, it explores the role of iconography in African Christian liturgy on the Roman Catholic Church. The article critically examines iconography in African religion and spirituality, Sacred Scripture and celebrated traditional Christian practices. This article argues that, whilst religious symbols are on the physical realm, in reality, they symbolise and represent the metaphysical and transcendental realities. Although, they are often associated with religious formalism, exaggerated spirituality, and idol worship, icons and images have conveyed unprecedented allegorical messages across time and cultures.Contribution: This article expands the studies of iconography and semiology in theological landscapes and texts, allowing for the recognition and repositioning of art interpretation from an African experience.

Review: African Art and the Transformational Role of Museums

There was a time when Africa was thought to have no history, no philosophy, no civilizational culture and no artistic creativity or aesthetic sensibilities. This new book, African Art Reframed: Reflections and Dialogues on Museum Cultures by Bennetta Jules-Rosette and J.R. Osborn, re-evaluates this perception and argues that African art has come a long way in the last few decades, taking the reader through the transformational process that African art has undergone in that period, including the role of the museums and the collaborative work of agents across different sectors in the reframing of African art.

Infinite Mirror: Critical Reflections on Wayne Barker’s Strategies of Appropriation

ABSTRACT Contemporary South African artist Wayne Barker is well known for mixing referents taken from high art and popular culture in his art practice that spaces more than 30 years. Barker’s infamous appropriation of J. H. Pierneef’s works has been interpreted as iconoclastic acts that critique the ideals Pierneef represents. Barker’s seemingly irreverent pilfering is a strategy that he has brought into his recent Beadworks Series. Through focusing on selected works by Wayne Barker, this paper explores the complexities of appropriation as a contemporary strategy for art making. It begins by distinguishing between different types of appropriation. Then the genealogy of strategies of appropriation within western modernist art is outlined in order to locate Barker’s art making practice within the trajectory of the historical and neo avant-gardes. The subsequent analyses of selected artworks critically consider the extent to which Barker’s appropriation challenges or reinforces the cultural associations and symbolic meaning of that which he appropriates.

Object Biographies and Museums: 100 X Congo in Antwerp, Exhibition at the Museum aan de Stroom, Antwerp, Belgium, 3 October 2020 - 12 September 2021

The Museum aan de Stroom (MAS) in Antwerp, Belgium, opened the doors of its long-anticipated exhibition, 100 X Congo, on 3 October 2020, highlighting the presence of a Congolese art collection that has been owned by the city for a hundred years (1920-2020). Tackling the often uneasy history of how these things ended up in museums in the colonial ‘motherland’, this exhibition signals a step forwards in museology in Belgium, away from mere aestheticism of Congolese and, by extension, African arts, towards, in contrast, a focus on provenance, context and cultural importance.

African Masking Systems: An Archive Of Social Commentary

October 21 2021 African Masking Systems: An Archive Of Social Commentary Samuel Nortey, Samuel Nortey Samuel Nortey is an artist and an associate professor in the Department of Industrial Art (Ceramics Section), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana. He holds a PhD in African Art and Culture. He is a multicultural fellow of the National Council for Education of the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) and has worked with several art centers in Ghana developing the frontiers of art production. Nortey's publications are in ceramic art, art history, art education and issues of contemporary art. He has been involved in many local and international exhibitions and reviews. snortey.art@knust.edu.gh Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Edwin K. Bodjawah, Edwin K. Bodjawah Edwin Kwesi Bodjawah is an artist, associate professor in the Department of Painting and Sculpture, KNUST, and the coordinator of the Opoku Ware II Museum at KNUST. He is a principal trustee and patron of blaxTARLINES, KUMASI. Through decommissioned materials he researches serial reproduction of African mask forms. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Kwaku Boafo Kissiedu Kwaku Boafo Kissiedu Kwaku Boafo Kissiedu (Castro) is a cofounder and the administrative director of blaxTARLINES, KUMASI. He is a senior lecturer at the famed Fine Art Department of KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana, where he, and other colleagues, have pioneered revolutionary changes in fine art pedagogy, turning out emerging artists who are making waves worldwide. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Samuel Nortey Samuel Nortey is an artist and an associate professor in the Department of Industrial Art (Ceramics Section), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana. He holds a PhD in African Art and Culture. He is a multicultural fellow of the National Council for Education of the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) and has worked with several art centers in Ghana developing the frontiers of art production. Nortey's publications are in ceramic art, art history, art education and issues of contemporary art. He has been involved in many local and international exhibitions and reviews. snortey.art@knust.edu.gh Edwin K. Bodjawah Edwin Kwesi Bodjawah is an artist, associate professor in the Department of Painting and Sculpture, KNUST, and the coordinator of the Opoku Ware II Museum at KNUST. He is a principal trustee and patron of blaxTARLINES, KUMASI. Through decommissioned materials he researches serial reproduction of African mask forms. Kwaku Boafo Kissiedu Kwaku Boafo Kissiedu (Castro) is a cofounder and the administrative director of blaxTARLINES, KUMASI. He is a senior lecturer at the famed Fine Art Department of KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana, where he, and other colleagues, have pioneered revolutionary changes in fine art pedagogy, turning out emerging artists who are making waves worldwide. Online Issn: 1937-2108 Print Issn: 0001-9933 © 2021 by the Regents of the University of California2021Regents of the University of California African Arts (2021) 54 (4): 52–63. https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_a_00612 Cite Icon Cite Permissions Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Search Site Citation Samuel Nortey, Edwin K. Bodjawah, Kwaku Boafo Kissiedu; African Masking Systems: An Archive Of Social Commentary. African Arts 2021; 54 (4): 52–63. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_a_00612 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentAll JournalsAfrican Arts Search Advanced Search African masking systems have the potential to contribute to the conversation around the relationship between contemporary art and providing an archive of social commentary. In precolonial times and in geographical locations across Africa, these masking systems connect and integrate cultural practices and the infrastructure of these communities. Nortey, Bodjawah, and Kissiedu (2019) have explained that most African masks were not used in isolation, as mere objects offering visual pleasure, but were part of ceremonies that were cross-genre in nature, often embedded with layers of history, politics, and other important provenances. These African sculptures come alive in a variety of exhibition spaces; every member of the audience is engaged in the discussion or documentation of history through the communal nature of these masking ceremonies. History also chronicles the significance and contribution of the environment... © 2021 by the Regents of the University of California2021Regents of the University of California You do not currently have access to this content.

Hidden Elements: Victor Ekpuk's Illustrations for the Daily Times of Nigeria

October 21 2021 Hidden Elements: Victor Ekpuk's Illustrations for the Daily Times of Nigeria Janine A. Sytsma Janine A. Sytsma Janine A. Sytsma is an assistant professor of art history in the School of Art at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, where she specializes in Arts of Africa and the African Diaspora with an emphasis on contemporary art within the context of global geopolitics. sytsma@uark.edu Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Janine A. Sytsma Janine A. Sytsma is an assistant professor of art history in the School of Art at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, where she specializes in Arts of Africa and the African Diaspora with an emphasis on contemporary art within the context of global geopolitics. sytsma@uark.edu Online Issn: 1937-2108 Print Issn: 0001-9933 © 2021 by the Regents of the University of California2021Regents of the University of California African Arts (2021) 54 (4): 38–51. https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_a_00611 Cite Icon Cite Permissions Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Search Site Citation Janine A. Sytsma; Hidden Elements: Victor Ekpuk's Illustrations for the Daily Times of Nigeria. African Arts 2021; 54 (4): 38–51. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_a_00611 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentAll JournalsAfrican Arts Search Advanced Search all images reproduced by permission of Victor Ekpuk, except where otherwise noted While working as an illustrator at the government-controlled Daily Times of Nigeria Limited (DTN) during the country's second military era (1983–1998), artist Victor Ekpuk (b. 1964, Eket, Nigeria) traversed the delicate political terrain in the country. Shortly after the 1983 coup d'état, the head of the new military government, General Muhammadu Buhari (1983–1985), announced his intent to curtail the media and, over the next fifteen years, press freedoms waxed and waned under three consecutive military dictatorships.1 Buhari's successor, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (1985–1993), initially advocated for a free press, even appointing the liberal-minded Yemi Ogunbiyi as managing director of DTN, only to rescind his support a few years later. And between 1992 and 1998, Babangida and General Sani Abacha (1993–1998)... © 2021 by the Regents of the University of California2021Regents of the University of California You do not currently have access to this content.