New York Africa Film Festival at the Walter Reade theater
This weekend is a great opportunity to learn more about African film. The New York African Film Festival at at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater is screening contemporary and classic African film exploring notions of home and homeland. April 11 – 17, 2012.
Rotimi Fani-Kayode: “Nothing to Lose” in Chelsea
Rotimi Fani-Kayode: Nothing to Lose at the Walther Collection Project Space. I was thrilled to see that finally Rotimi Fani-Kayode was getting a proper showing in New York. This tribute to his photographic work is long overdue. Indeed he was seminal in his portraiture of black African homosexuality. “The first solo exhibition in New York […]
African Women empowerment: Nimbaya Drummers from Guinea
Friday night at Symphony Space in New York City, Nimbaya, the all-women percussion and dance ensemble from Guinea, came out strongly for women causes in Africa and spoke out against FGM (female genital mutilation). To the powerful rhythmic sound of the drums mixing humor to drama they created a narrative that condemned FGM. I […]
Nigerian High Fashion Week in Lagos: African Designers are Stars
Writing this blog is taking me on my own personal journey of discovery. I found out this week that FASHION is thriving on the African continent. Last week was fashion week in Lagos, the host of the Arise Africa Fashion Show where seventy seven African designers were represented. Well established and internationally known African designers […]
Contemporary Dance and African Heritage
New work by Okwui Okpokwasili and Nora Chipaumire. Friday night at St Marks Church in New York city, Danspace, in the context of Platform 2012 curated by Ishmael Houston- Jones, presented the powerful performances of two highly accomplished performers and Bessie award-winners: Okwui Okpokwasili, a second generation African American from the Bronx – her parents […]
Africa at Paris-Photo
African Photography at the Grand Palais The fifteenth edition of Paris-Photo was held for the first time at the Grand Palais, a grand Beaux Arts building remarkable for its iron, steel, and glass barrel vaulted roof. This new location for the fair, which was previously underground in the Carrousel du Louvre, is best adapted to […]
“Desdemona” with songs from Mali
A poetic conversation by Clara Cassan In October 2011, as part of the White Light Festival, Peter Sellars’ Desdemona showed at The Rose Theater at Lincoln Center. The show, written by the acclaimed author Toni Morrison, tells the story of Othello’s characters—particularly Desdemona and her African maid Barbary—reuniting after death. I was intrigued by the […]
Highlights from Bamako Biennale
BAMAKO BIENNALE A few impressions: Walking through the PanAfrican exhibition is to get a feel for the diversity of expressions, experiences, peoples, and landscapes of the African continent. No one genre dominates. Landscapes are no longer sublime . Deceptively banal, silently empty, Jo Ratcliffe’s landscapes document the aftermath of war. Her method is subtle and […]
Heroic Africans at the Metropolitan Museum
HEROIC AFRICANS REINSTATED by Isabel Stainow Wilcox The exhibition “ Heroic Africans: Legendary Leaders, Iconic Sculptures” at the Metropolitan Museum curated by Dr. Alisa LaGamma, gathers pre-colonial sculpture from eight landmark sculptural traditions from West and Central Africa created between the 12th century and the 20th century. Focused on sculptural forms that commemorate important leaders, […]
African Photography in Chelsea
African Art is getting some well-deserved attention this month in New York. The Walther Collection Project Space has just opened its second exhibition this year on African Photography. It has started the fall season with a dual presentation of portraits by two modern great photographers, Seydou Keita (Mali) and August Sander (Germany). The focus is […]
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