Summertime in Europe: African artists have much to say at art event Documenta in Kassel, Germany
African art at Documenta 13. I took time off from my blog and put Africa on the back burner for a few weeks while I finished a renovation and moved my home. I packed and unpacked like a wild woman with no other thought then to get it done with. Buried under boxes the only […]
South African artist Pieter Hugo speaks about his provocative photography
Interview with South African artist Pieter Hugo by Diane Frankel. Pieter Hugo‘s museum retrospective,This must be the place, which is touring in Europe, is bringing him lots of attention. Hugo was born in Cape Town in 1976 where he resides now. Trained as a photojournalist he now favors portraiture. He chooses to focus his lens on […]
British Nigerian Filmmaker Zina Saro-Wiwa embraces her naturally kinky hair. See video
Front page of the NYTtimes: Video of Zina Saro-Wiwa championing Self -Acceptance In the New York Times last Friday, filmmaker Zina Saro-Wiwa presented an op-Doc on black women’s decision to embrace their naturally kinky hair, rather then use chemical straighteners. I think non black women could all use a little return to naturalness in their […]
Interview with South African artist Nandipha Mntambo
Nandipha Mntambo’s hauntingly beautiful sculptures made out of cowhide. Video by Diane Frankel Nandipha Mntambo, born in Swaziland in 1982 and raised in South Africa, is a sculptor who has made cowhide her medium of choice. Her choice is informed on one hand by a childhood dream where she found herself left with a pile […]
The Power of Art in South Africa: Brett Murray’s painting SPEAR defaced
Brett Murray‘s exhibition at the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg has provoked an intense controversy over the artist’s right to free expression. His painting Spear which portrays President Zuma with his genitals spilling out of his pants was defaced because it was considered too provocative, offensive, and racist by some outraged viewers. A resolution was reached […]
Interview with rising star: South African artist Nicholas Hlobo
Interview with Nicholas Hlobo by Diane Frankel Nicholas Hlobo cuts, tears, punctures and resews varied materials such as paper, black inner tube, satin ribbon, leather, textiles that are rich in associations and creates drawings, sculptural installations and performances where he explores issues of personal identity, such as gender, sexuality, ethnicity, origins and colonial history. […]
Interview with artist Zanele Muholi from South Africa
Interview with South African photographer Zanele Muholi by Diane Frankel. Zanele Muholi, is one of South Africa ‘s foremost artists. She sees herself as a visual activist. She addresses in her work the reality of what is to be lesbian and gay in South Africa where homosexuality is not accepted and where some cultural and […]
New series: Interviews of artists from South Africa.
I have been increasingly interested in artistic expressions that are not part of the mainstream and that reflect a different cultural experience, perspective, and history. In great part because I get great pleasure from being in Africa, whether it be Kenya, Mali, Egypt, South Africa to name a few, […]
Artist Nnenna Okore in her studio
Conversation with Nigerian sculptor Nnenna Okore in her studio The first time I saw Nnenna Okore’s work was at the Newark Museum and I found it very poetic and compelling. Hung from the ceiling, transparent strips of shredded burlap dyed with clay like color, felt tactile and earthy yet paradoxically also ethereal and majestic. That […]
An Art Crtic in Africa: Holland Cotter’s report on the state of the Arts in Africa
Holland Cotter, art critic for the New York Times, spend a month in November 2011 in West Africa. Jerry Vogel, an expert on West Africa, who had just finished guiding a group organized by the Museum for African Art through Northern Mali – see earlier posts on my travels to Mali – guided Mr. Cotter […]
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