“Looking Both Ways: Art of the Contemporary African Diaspora” is an exhibition that affords several practicing artists the chance to explore the psychological terrain between the West and Africa, examine the constantly changing physical geographies and contexts in the perceived ever-increasing globalization of the African diaspora and identify the various emotional expressions and aesthetic ambitions that manifest in their own work as result of African diaspora. The curatorial vision of the exhibition set out to create a distinct space of personal and cultural histories, perspectives and artistic visions, while attempting to avoid homogenization of the multiple realties of the artists involved. (Nka, 2008:41). This essay will critically investigate the concept of diaspora, the place it serves in the artistic community as well as the issues of nationalism, the desire to create new spaces, migrancy, memory and the disruption of traditional Western narratives that are explored in the works exhibited in the “Looking Both Ways: Art of the Contemporary African Diaspora” exhibition.
Derived from the early Greek language, the word diaspora means ‘dispersion’ –a literal “sowing abroad” and has since then been linked to ideas of colonization, migration and violent removals from homelands (Peffer, 2003:22-23). The term itself has been critiqued and contested as a concept that is neither neutral nor simply a descriptive term that can be employed by the West when relating to “groups of people, their history and their cultural identities” (Minty, 2004:11). This in itself may explain why some artists were reluctant to participate in the exhibition of African diaspora for fear of their visual artworks being subjected to a homogenized Western view...
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Works Cited
- Farrel, L. 2003. Looking Both Ways: Art of the Contrmporary African Diaspora. Musuem for African Art, New York. Snoeck Publishers.
- Living in Indonesia 1997.
- Manger, L. & Assal, M. 2006. Diasporas Within and Without Africa. The Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala.
- Minty, Z. 2004. A Place Called Home: A Contemporary Art Show With Artists form the South Asian Diaspora. South Africa, Cape Town. One.
- Nka: Journal of Contemporary Art. 2008. Duke University Press. 22/23. pg 38-39
- Njami, S. 2003. Looking Both Ways: Art of the Contrmporary African Diaspora – The Diaspora as object. Musuem for African Art, New York. Snioeck Publishers. pg 145-152.
- Peffer, J. 2003. Looking Both Ways: Art of the Contrmporary African Diaspora – The Diaspora as object. Musuem for African Art, New York. Snoeck Publishers. pg. 22-36
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Marcus Garvey had a huge influence on the African Diaspora and where it connected with the black men and women. Ethiopia, in Garvey’s perspective, was seen as the home of all African’s in exile in the African Diaspora. (McMurray 48) See now what Garvey was influencing, yet not the initiator of, was on how the African Diaspora connected with the idea or dream of returning home to Africa. With that movement already going on and established, he was able to feed off other ideas and goals and incorporate them into his own. Garvey began to wonder who was the voice for the African’s and why the black men and women didn’t have the opportunities that other people, not African, did.
The National Archives | Exhibitions & Learning online | Black presence | Africa and the Caribbean. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2014, from http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/africa_caribbean/africa_trade.htm
Jackson, P. (1992). (in)Forming the Visual: (re)Presenting Women of African Descent. International Review of African American Art. 14 (3), 31-7.
In the gallery walk I took several images of piece of work. I took a picture of the Dandy Lion poster that was now a part of the new exhibition. I didn’t know my connection to this project, nor did I know it’s connection to Afrofuturism, Modernism and Post
Western attitudes to African people and culture have always affected how their art was appreciated and this has also coloured the response to the art from Benin. Over time, concepts of ‘Race’, defined as a distinct group with a common lineage, and ‘Primitive’ which pertains to the beginning or origin,, have been inextricably linked with the perception of Africa. The confusion of the two in the minds of people at the end of the 19th century, and some of the 20th, caused a sense of superiority amongst the ‘White Races’ that affected every aspect of their interaction with ‘the Black’. The ‘Civilisation’ of Africa by conquest and force is justified by these views.
Zahan, Dominique. The Religion, Spirituality, and Thought of Traditional Africa. Trans. Kate Ezra Martin and Lawrence M. Martin. Chicago: U of Chicago Press, 1979.
The Harlem Renaissance had a lot of influence on modern day art because many artist white and black drew inspiration from traditional African sculptures. In the 1900s, “the aesthetics of traditional African sculpture became a powerful influence among European artists who formed an avant-garde in the development of modern art.”(“African
(7) Anthony Kwame Appiah, In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosphy of Culture (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992)
The attitudes towards the display of Benin Art, adopted by European museums and galleries have dramatically changed over the 112 year period since their initial acquisition. This has been for a number of reasons including the societal transition from accepting colonialism to acknowledging cultural diversity, the gradual integration and cross-fertilisation across the academic fields of anthropology, ethnography and art history and the ongoing debate regarding provenance and repatriation.
...control. I believe there are really two distinct issues that have to be considered, one is that of a Eurocentric evaluation of fine art that is still widely present in major museums. The second is that the only way to overcome this stigma is through an honest recognition of the historical falsehoods created by the functions of colonization. Only through the resolution of both of these issues, in a post-colonial framework, will a true multicultural platform emerge.
Gabriel, Deborah. Layers of Blackness: Colourism in the African Diaspora. London: Imani Media, 2007. Print.
Music played a very important role in the lives of people is diaspora communities. It served as a reminder for the immigrants of their homeland, which allowed them to proudly express their national and cultural identities. Diaspora refers to an international network of communities linked together by the identification of a common ancestral homeland and culture. People in these communities are no longer living in their homelands, with no guarantee of a return either. (Bakan, 19). Music played a large role in African diaspora communities. This was first started by the slave trades many years ago when slave traders traveled to the coast of West Africa to capture Africans and brought them back to the United States to be slaves on plantations. Slaves were more prone to loose a sense of their own culture because every new aspect of their lives was forced upon them, therefore they were undoubtedly forced to abandon their n...
Khapoya, Vincent B. The African Experience: An Introduction. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1998. Print.
Kasfir, S. L. (2007) African Art and the Colonial Encounter: Inventing a Global Commodity, Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
I have chosen to describe the artwork Song of the Picks by Gerard Sekoto. I will look at what defines a work as modern and discuss Sekoto's background to fully understand his work and to prove whether it is modern. Several people influenced, supported and encouraged Sekoto and I will briefly discuss them. I will give a brief history of European modernity and its influence on Africa in order to understand African modernity.