Photographer Samuel Fosso lived for many years in Bangui with his family. With the rebels overrunning his town, he managed to escape just time, finally settling in Paris. This interesting video tells his story…
Kenyan artist, Peterson Kamwathi has a solo show in New York City
A creative voice from Nairobi speaking up for good governance and peace Peterson Kamwathi , a contemporary artist from Kenya had his first solo show in New York City at the Volta art fair in March. ArtLabAfrica had been selected to show Kamwathi latest series “Positions”. This series came about as a reaction to the increasing […]
1:54 African Art Fair in London is spreading its wings.
LONDON WELCOMES AFRICAN CONTEMPORARY ART. This October was the second year that African art was making a showing in London during Frieze week and it was doubling in size! Named 1:54; 1 for one continent, 54 for 54 countries, the title was a reminder that Africa is not one country but a multitude of countries […]
Ground-breaking photographs from Port Harcourt: “Men of the Ogele” by Zina Saro -Wiwa
Men of the Ogele! a photographic series by Zinadu Saro-Wiwa, 2014. While getting her pop-up gallery in Port Harcourt up and running, Zina Saro-Wiwa has been focusing also on her own work which is to be shown at the Seattle Museum. She first set out to photographs the Ogele dancers who perform in local masquerades. […]
Toyin Odutola: Close and Personal
I love it when I see an artist become more ambitious in terms of art making and take a big leap in a new direction. Toyin Odutola’s latest work showing at Jack Shainman is exactly that. Toyin specializes in drawings and portraiture but her ink-layering process is very unique. In the past she worked almost […]
Hélène Amouzou: A quiet and poignant voice
“On est vidée de l’être qu’on est.” (One’s own Being is voided out) “Self portraiture is a way of writing without words. My aim is to reveal the deepest parts of myself.” Hélène Amouzou Hélène Amouzou’s ephemeral and ghostly self-portraits caught my attention. While in these two photographs she does not truly appear, her absence […]
Hair matters in Chimamanda Adiche’s novel “Americanah”
Listen well: African women are talking about their hair. I just finished Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche’s novel, Americanah, and was totally taken by her wonderful vivid description of a hair-braiding salon in Trenton New Jersey. I never realized it took six hours to have one’s hair braided and that it hurt so much! Being a person […]
A quick stop at Paa Joe on our way to Kumasi, Ghana
A touch of kitsch: Paa Joe’s sculpted coffins, On our way to Kumasi, we pulled up in front of this nondescript house/warehouse on the side of the road. We had decided to make a stop and see Paa Joe‘s work place and perhaps meet him . I had seen one of his sculpted coffins – […]
Exploring Contemporary art in Ghana: Color dominates.
Contemporary painting in Ghana: The role of Kente cloth on color and design A couple months after going to Kenya I flew to Ghana to meet up with Diane and Chuck Frankel. We were there for an exploratory tour of the contemporary art scene in Acrra and Kumasi. Diane and Frank have been interested in […]
A day in the life of nurse Rita in Samburu land, Kenya
A lesson in improvisation: On the bank of the dry river bed babies get immunization shots. I love the feeling of the small twin engine plane speeding up the airstrip at Nairobi Wilson airport, the noise that it makes when the engines are on full blast and the following lightness as the plane lifts off […]
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