Photographer, Art Director and stylist Daniel Obasi‘s latest offering is the creation of an Afro Futurist fashion film for the eminent textile designers Vlisco and A Whitespace Creative Agency (AWCA) titled ‘An Alien in Town’.
A sequence of lush palm trees and fauna are contrasted by the earthy brown landscape that acts as a bordered scenery. From a distance, a motorcycle slowly appears, distinguished by its cattle horn adornment. Its riders in strikingly styled fashion combinations. They are met with the alien (Benita Ango). A blue life form has her back turned towards her onlookers. With a gentle movement, she turns to meet the gaze of her audience.
The earth below her feet mimics the surface of a crater. The viewer is met with transitioning images of space, the alien in profile caught in a medium frame as well as a wide shot that exemplifies her otherworldliness. She faints.
Her onlookers take on a more active role and with the curiosity and near naivety of children, they approach her. They take her in and attempt to teach her the ways of humankind, of human culture. With the metropolis of Lagos as the setting of this tale, the viewer is taken through a variety of scenarios in which the alien life form finds itself. This emphasizes how out of place she is in this human world. She examines this new found space for the first time and is clearly amazed by all that she witnesses. She studied her hands, a book, the television. Her alien-ness is highlighted by her incorrect use of a fork and non-intrinsic manner of attempting to consume food. What is deeply apparent is an emotional detachment that flows through the entire piece. It is implied that the alien identifies more with a mannequin than with the humans who have given her refuge.
Obasi’s work takes the form of a gestural film as there is no audible dialogue and yet, the gestures and narrative are well woven together so that the simple storyline cannot be construed as one of haphazard play (every scene has been well thought out). A theme that is carried throughout the film is that of fashion. We see the male character played by Oke Tobi Subomi in the film take the human femme (Rebecca Fabunmi) and alien into a photo shoot setting made up of Vlisco fashion and a backdrop pattern of black and white squares against which the fashion ensembles stand out triumphant. Headpieces, beaded on the humans and more futuristic on the alien take centre stage.A scene lingers in a dark room with red light and as we see the last of the alien’s stay the lighting takes on a blue, extra-terrestrial statement. The darkroom where the male character develops his images of the fashion shoot act as a possible signifier towards an act of creating a physical object – a proof of what had transpired – an alien visiting Lagos. Obasi ends off his piece with the alien in the same setting she was originally found and the viewer assumes that it is the last that will be seen or heard from the alien. The upbeat soundtrack that flows through the piece assists in making this film light-hearted and the viewer does not perceive her voyage home as one that should be taken in with sadness.Obasi’s contemporary Afro Futurist film is vibrant and celebrates Nigerian culture as well as focuses on African fashion and the energy that it carries. His considerations of the colour of lighting and the possible symbolism connected, adds another layer to this work. His ability to keep a concise narrative throughout the film despite having no audible dialogue verges on brilliance. I look forward to his next offering.
Fashion. Art. Music. These are three creative spheres that are often intertwined with one another. The Art’Press Yourself festival, organized by the agency DARAJA CONCEPT, took place in Paris on 3-4 November, and aptly represented this intersection. Described as an afro-urban festival, designers, filmmakers and artists with roots spreading across Europe and Africa were brought together to share their work which tied into the slogan for this year’s festival, ‘Back to the Afrofuture’. Playing on the cyclical notion of time, this slogan references Afrofuturist thinking.
The backdrop with the words ‘Art’Press Yourself’ surrounded by adinkra symbols greeted guests as they walked through the entrance of the festival’s location, Pan Piper. This was created in collaboration with POSCO. Festival-goers were invited to sit on a hand-woven chair and use various props representative of the festival and different African religious and mythological stories for photographs. However, the use of the backdrop transformed throughout the festival, with people being given pens to write messages and draw on the white spaces between the letters. This is symbolic of the collective production of language, making a connection to the way in which images have played a significant role in the foundation of African lettering and preservation of knowledge. Considering how young the festival is, it moves towards its importance in bringing together artists and designers and making a collective mark on framing fashion, design and music inspired by African and African Diaspora experiences.
The three levels of the venue allowed for a seamless definition of spaces, making it easy for attendees to navigate the festival. The first level included an exhibition space for artists and designers of all kinds to share their work. Gold jewelry, items sourced made from various African countries, accessories customized by artists, and original art pieces.
Ensuring that the festival catered for different interjections and reflections on creative practices, the third level of the venue was used for a fashion show, performances, a film screening as well as a talk on Afrofuturism. A display of the dance style vogue by Matyouz Ladurée and Félicia entertained festival-goers during the day on Saturday. Jean Fall, the founder of Cinewax, shared with audiences a video describing different elements of Afrofuturism and its significance as a school of thought and lens through which to view the experiences of black people. This was followed by the short film by female filmmaker Wanuri Kahiuthat uses Afrofuturist motifs as a way to interrogate environmental issues in Kenya, and the globe more generally. There was also a projection of Alexis Peskine‘s movie ‘Raft of Medusa’.
With the film setting the mood for a conversation which underlines what these motifs are and what they mean, UK-based digital artist Ashley Straker shared the stage with Bubblegum Club’s Editor Christa Dee to have a question and answer session facilitated by Laurie Pezeron (founder of READ! CLUB) about Afrofuturism. The enthusiasm and curiosity expressed through the audience members’ questions highlighted the significance of the conversation and the interpretation of it as a therapy, a methodology, an imaginary, tool for critique as well as a connection to a past, present and future which is expressed through writing, fashion, art and music.
The festival had an open-ended closure, allowing for conversations and networking to continue post the event.
To find out more about the festival visit Art’Press Yourself on Facebook and Instagram.
Below is a list of artists, designers and other participants to get a feel for the kind of collective creative energy that was present at this year’s festival:
Fashion
ASO GLOBAL. HARRIS M. MADEMOISELLE BLE. SOUL and ROOTS. KEIKO. SECRET SAMPLE. L’ATELIER DE BOJEL. ICOM ASSO. EKEEYA. KOROSOL AFRICAN ARMURE. KORY WADE. ALICIA DELYSSIME. ITFA
Accessories
MA COULEUR A SES MERVEILLES. AYIZANA. NOOR ART. OH LA CRANEUSE. NOIR FLUO EVA SAM. BAZAR WAX. OHEA. AFRICAN STYLIA DECO. NUBYA. DE BENGUE. LA FABRIKAWAX. EBENE CHIC. NATTY KONGO MLKREATIONS. NACHO JEWELS.
Visual Arts
LAURIE-ANNE BRACCIANO. ASHLEY STRAKER. HANEEKS. PRINTED SOLES. LEA PALOMA. MARY CREA ART. KIRIIKOO PINEAPPLES.
Beauty and other categories
REAL B COSMETICS. KISSORO TRIBAL GAMES. NYEUSI CREA LOCKS. MELLE LEE ZA. SERGE KPONTON.
Jamall Osterholm is a 22 year old emerging designer and recent graduate from RISD taking a distinctive look at Afrofuturism by designing genderless apparel for an all-black alien race. With an attempt at influencing the future of black masculinity, he is sculpting the black male body into a genderless construct. With Osterholm describing his collection with Afrofuturist terms and phrases, drawing these out provides a context within which to share his work.
Afrofuturism could be described as a therapy, a methodology, a school of thought, an imaginary, a lens and a tool for critique and reclamation. People of colour from the African diaspora (and the continent) have used it to make sense of their circumstances and reconstruct a past, present and future. Afrofuturist artists and writers use to figure of the alien as a discursive and creative tool with which to contextualize slavery and to imagine an alternative reality. While what it means to be black and the experiences associated with this differ, one of the main aspects of Afrofuturism is about taking ownership of a black identity. This is expressed through art, music and political activism.
Throughout history black identity or an understanding of blackness has been framed in relation to whiteness. Through this collection Osterholm makes a reflexive interrogation of blackness, removing it from a Eurocentric gaze and how it has been interpreted as the opposite of whiteness. The concept behind this collection presents a vision of people of colour with a reference to the future. Using the future as a reference extends from the understanding that the past, present as future can be occupied all at the same time.
Puffer jacket armour. Tailored dresses for the male form. This is the future that Jamall predicts. Jamall uses alien figures as a metaphor for slavery, and explains that he is taking a look at modern black culture as a descendant of slave culture. He follows this linage to ascertain what the future looks like for black culture.
Jamall defines the looks for his range as the “final form of blackness”. His range is intended to move black people into a changed space of liberation and the freedom of self-expression. His collection addresses stereotypes about black men as hyper-sexual, hyper-masculine and hyper-aggressive. Expressing that his desire to work in menswear came from a desire to create an opportunity for cis black males to express themselves in any way they would like to as he believes that currently this opportunity does not exist. Jamall takes staple collection designs such as the oversized hoodie and tweaks, and changes their silhouettes. He experiments with the cut and shape, which allows him to feminizes a garment shape that is often seen as hyper masculine. Not only can Jamall be regarded as a sculptor of clothing but his design have the ability to transform the human form into something genderless, alien and a work of art within itself.
Seldomly do we see a designer take on nearly every aspect of a project as Jamall has with his liberated black alien race. He photographed the visuals himself that pay tribute to understated and often times undervalued facets of the male physique. His male models, nude under their sheer body suits, are not eroticized or sexualized. Jamall regards his photography just as vital as designing his garments for his process.
With a sculptured vision for the changes he wishes to implement within the thinking and designing of menswear, Jamall has the drive to make these visions a reality. Perhaps we will find him transcend into another galaxy one day.
“Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic that combines science-fiction, history and fantasy to explore the African-American experience and aims to connect those from the black diaspora with their forgotten African ancestry,”
This is the definition given by the Tate Gallery’s glossary, but it only begins to scratch the surface. For celebrated artist Elia Alba, the work of futurism is not just about connecting black people to black art and black history, in a way that is isolated from mainstream content. Instead, as is explored in her recent set of works, it is the effort to place black creativity at the heart of archetypes in fashion, design, art and literature. Simply put, the Afrofuturist takes their seat at the table in her series, entitled The Supper Club.
In an interview with Artsy, Alba explains her journey between making art, and the experience of sitting down with her subjects to unpack the issues. Over a series of supper club evenings, she did just that, teasing out the complexities of race, intersectionality and the experience of living in America. Her experiences served to shift her perspective.
The Pulsar, (Abigail DeVille), 2014.
“As artists, we do need to be more sensitive, because we’re putting stuff out into the world. I feel like I was very naïve for a while. Now, to use the contemporary language, I’m woke,” says Alba.
The works, which bring together photography, make up artistry, visual storytelling – depict various leaders in black creativity as new icons. Instead of the generic white man on horse = gentleman trop, Alba uses different successful people of colour to fully embody archetypes like “The Professor,” “The Dreamweaver” and true to her Afro-Latino heritage, “The Orisha.”
For over half a decade, Alba has engaged in various dinners, discussions and digital works which have tried to uncover the place of black (broadly speaking) creativity in a world which is still hugely unconcerned with black voices. And while the scene of work on representation is extremely littered (and rightly so), Alba’s bold, brash approach is out of this world.
Bursting with colour, rich black symbolism and all the marks of an experienced artist, her work is equal parts intelligent and elegant, poignant and easily accessible. Included are the works are graphic artist Chitra Ganesh (depicted as an alienesque David Bowie, complete with a huge bindi), Jacolby Satterwhite, Simone Leigh and Abigail De Ville, to name just a few. And while the famous faces bring their own magic to the work, the intentions are clear.
“It’s about reimagining icons and perceptions of what is beautiful—and who is beautiful.”
Mukhtara Yusuf is a Yoruba Muslim visual artist, designer, storyteller and cultural activist from Nigeria. In my interview with her we discuss her process, ideas behind her work and the ColabNowNow residency.
Cultural activism surfaces in Mukhtara’s practice systematically, philosophically and with regards to representation. “My work comes from a place of seeing how art and design are part of popular and personal things that are often overlooked relating to political power and structural issues. As a maker it is important to talk about those things through pieces that reflect personal, vulnerable responses to happenings in the world – especially those linked to inequality.”
With her interest in designing systems and an investment in access, Mukhtara’s designs consist of more than images and objects. Mukhtara makes use of community participation in many of her projects thereby involving the people it will serve.
The philosophical arch of her work revolves around the idea of power and questions whose knowledge is published as academic texts. “I prioritize the challenging of existing value systems and the dominance of European ways of knowing as a way to enter my making.”
Mukhtara tells me that architecture and environment play into her textile and clothing designs as wearable surface designs or objects. Mukhtara’s architectural practice takes the form of buildings, organizational principles and systems. She attempts to understand urban ecologies that she wishes to improve with the objects she creates or by transforming them into practical systems.
Black speculative design pedagogy is term that Mukhtara developed and came about for her out of frustration by speculative design and the issues that it address. Mukhtara explains that the issues that speculative design addresses overlook the history of colonialism and creates a space in which these values become unrelenting. “Who owns the future? Who gets to dream, whose difficulties are seen as worthy of being considered in something as lofty and idealistic as speculative design. This is the ethos of my work, that I am trying to cultivate practically. By doing so it goes beyond a philosophy.”
Speaking of a future vision she frequently creates work from speculation or imagination. “What would it be like if European knowledge wasn’t the epistemology that dominated design thinking?” Mukhtara has a desire to make it more than just fantasy.
African futurism, Afrofuturism and black speculative pedagogy are terms she chooses to use in relation to one another. She explains that these terms begin to narrow in on what she conveys in her conceptual practice. “I am considering critically what time is as a field of knowledge and how it influences people’s notions of knowing as well as ideas on social oppression.” Mukhtara sees time as a construct and feels that the linear understanding of time comes from colonialism. She continues to say that Africans were placed at the beginning of a timeline that is in need of a second stage of modernity. Her interest lies in how the conception of time is used as a means of creating disgrace and disregard towards the pain that stems from structural and private concerns.
The challenges Mukhtara is faced with in regards to creating in Nigeria has been the supreme inspiration for her cultural activism. “It has really shown me how much influence infrastructure and class have on people’s ability to create.”
Mukhtara’s motivation for applying to ColabNowNow came from her desire to work in collaboration with other like-minded African makers. She wishes to learn from other participants’ practices and build on her own knowledge. With a hope that the residency will create long-term collaborations, Mukhtara hopes to gain resources in order to create positive change in Nigeria. Her art tells the stories of her people.
Artist and designer Jacque Njeri has always had a close relationship with art, which she expressed through various mediums growing up. She took this experimentation with art as a child and channeled it into formal training when she completed her degree in Bachelors of Art in Design.
The aim of Jacque’s work is to look at everyday scenarios but through a whole new perspective. “It is almost as if to answer the hypothetical question, ‘If not this, then what else?’” she explains.
In contrast to her previous Stamp Series, Jacque’s latest digital series titled MaaSci, a portmanteau of Maasai and Sci-Fi, sees Maasai people walking on the moon and traveling through space on UFOs, as well as sitting on or walking towards celestial objects on earthly terrains. Her strategic use of layering and taking into account the sitting and standing positions of the Maasai people she portrays in her images, allow the final images to come across as photographs rather than digital constructions. Jacque explains that the role of the Maasai people in this series “was to provide that rich cultural aesthetic to the different science fiction themes represented in the compositions.” Her images also speak back to the documentary-style photographs coupled with narratives that highlight African cultures and their traditions as occupying a kind of anachronistic place in the present. Instead the Maasai are seen to be inhabitants of both the past, present and future, playing with linear chronological thinking, and highlighting Maasai cyclical time.
Artists from the continent are often categorized as Afrofuturists. Thinking about the almost immediate categorization, I asked Jacque what she thinks about this. She replied by saying, ‘I love it! It sets an African future apart from other futures. It alludes to a future for us and by us. It shows ownership of a voice in matters pertaining Africa…sort of. I have been an Afrofuturism enthusiast even way before I started contributing to that genre.”
Jacque has a number of projects that she is working on at the moment, but is planning on extending her MaaSci series given the positive reception that is has received.
The category digital art includes a wide variety of artistic practices. Digital artist and curator Jepchumba describes this form of art as encompassing artwork whose production and presentation uses digital technology as an essential part of the creative process.
Post African Futures, referring to an exhibition at the Goodman Gallery in 2015, and used in the title of a special issue of Technoetic Arts, is a term that has gained significance when discussing the work of digital art from Africa. Following on from Tegan Bristow’s research focusing on South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, the term is aimed at highlighting the aesthetic mechanisms and critical engagements that stem from what she calls “cultures of technology” in Africa (2014: 169). The ‘post’ in Post African Futures is an invite to see past the immediate links that American and European critics ascribed to African aesthetic practices with technology, particularly those who simply assume that this is a version of African American Afrofuturism (Bristow 2014). Some African artists have been influenced by the mechanisms of Afrofuturism, however, Bristow points out the need to investigate how these mechanisms are being re-explored and what the intention is of African artists in choosing to engage with aesthetics similar to those of Afrofuturism, while at the same time stating that Afrofuturism does not necessarily define what it is they are doing with their work (Bristow 2013). Bristow has emphasized the need to explore uses of technology as an “embedded cultural phenomenon that has very particular aesthetic implications” (2014: 168).
In thinking about this, I had an interview with Jepchumba about her work, her relationship with the digital and the platform that she founded, African Digital Art.
Jepchumba, ‘My heart is in my Head’, 2016
Tell our readers about your own digital art practice – how has your own work evolved, what are the kinds of themes you enjoy working on, where has most of the inspiration for your own work come from?
I primarily have grown up in between spaces, and as a result I have always sought a home. The digital world has always felt like a home to me. For a long time the space between me and a monitor felt comfortable both creatively and personally. Through African Digital Art I came to realize that not only did the digital space allow me to explore such a range of artistry, it has led me to realize that I am a collector.
At heart I am a curator, a role that I avoided for a long time. I see this role spill into my own personal creative practice. Technology allows you to participate within multi mediums simultaneously. You can easily be a digital archivist/visual/audio/interactive story teller all at once.
What are you working on at the moment?
I am working on the future.
I feel as though we are living in a critical time before Africa looks and thinks of itself completely differently. But it is one of those things you wonder whether it is a critical time or if everyone has always felt this way. Well statistically we have an extremely young continent compared to everywhere else in the world. So in many ways I am interested in having conversations with that generation.
I hope to create work that would give them some reference of the world and questions we had at this time and bring some awareness to some of the conflicts that we had with ourselves.
Where did the idea for African Digital Art come from? How do you like to describe the platform? How has the platform evolved from its inception?
I began African Digital Art because I was told that digital art in Africa did not exist. This was about 8 or 9 years ago, so that is eons in online history.
I found the lack of awareness people had online about what we were capable of to be outstanding. At a time where we came to understand the importance of content I wanted to leave a sort of digital imprint of what we were all working on online. I guess I was afraid that we would start to believe that there was no digital art in Africa because we wouldn’t be represented online. The site’s function was purely archival. African Digital Art was not meant to be a perfect representation of contemporary African art but rather designed to inspired artists and creatives to engage in the world of digital art.
Jepchumba, ‘Boundaries’, 2016
How do you see your African Digital Art in terms of being a platform that allows various artists from the continent being able to share and archive their work on their own terms? Do you see this as offering a form of digital decolonising?
Wow. I have never thought of African Digital Art as a form of digital decolonizing. But I did make a conscious effort that I wanted to keep things simple. Let the work speak for itself and always highlight or showcase the artist by giving them the opportunities to speak for themselves. So the site is mainly visual, I rarely write because I find myself afraid to speak for an artist or label them or misrepresent them. I have experienced this misrepresentation as an African artist myself. So I hope at the very least the audience of African Digital Art will be curious enough to directly reach out to artists themselves.
Africa is often thought of as ‘one big country’. Tell our readers about the importance of recognizing and giving light to the different digital practices or cultures that have been founded and evolved in different cities on the continent.
I used to spend so much time arguing that Africa was not a country. I quickly realized that these arguments were mostly done outside of Africa. So I stopped. I am not particularly interested in having that conversation because I do not think it is necessary. Google is ‘free’ there is too much evidence out there for you to see Africa’s diversity and we are barely scratching the surface.
What I am truly interested in is to give artists and creators a reference for them to engage with. My work through African Digital Art is to provide resources, tools, ideas, connections, opportunities to artists who would be interested in the possibilities of creative technology. So for me it is essential to highlight and recognize the diversity of digital practices and African digital culture in order for us to prepare a new generation that will be at the global center stage in the advancement of technology, culture and ideology.
With most people on the continent being cellphone users, how do you think this has an effect on the way in which digital art is consumed on an everyday basis vs in the traditional gallery space?
Enough already with Africa’s cellphone usage! We have a tendency to fetishize technological objects. But I would advice you to think a different way. Yes it is true, there was a cellphone revolution in Africa that propelled us to the internet. But can we move past this, because technology is. Today we are having conversations about algorithms that control group think, artificial intelligence, humans embedding machines into their biology, the homogenization of expressions of culture and ideology on the internet and other huge themes. This is the truly exciting space to think of digital art in Africa. The traditional art spaces in Africa have never really work because they were foreign implants. We must not limit our thinking about art and our role in it in the confines of white cubed spaces. This is why this field is so exciting there are new opportunities for us to participate in art that were never available to us. I would encourage people to start thinking and stepping waaaaaaaaay outside the box.
There is often a conflation of the terms ‘Black’, ‘African’ and ‘Afro’. How do you view these identifying terms, specifically in relation to art? What are some of the recent conversations around these terms? How do you like to describe your own work when thinking about these terms?
This is such a big question. One that I have struggled with since the minute I bought the domain africandigitalart.com. I sometimes ask myself why couldn’t I have just called the site Digital Art and then just feature African artists.
“Africa” has become one big internet logo. It is synonymous with so many things and it is also not very clearly defined. I find this hazy muddle to be sometimes effective but dangerous. When we conflate “black, African, Afro” we can see, on one hand, a true exercise of digital pan Africanism, where you see diverse cultures who identify strongly within one identity. On the other hand, the “black, African,Afro-ism “can lead you to be pulled into different agenda’s, ideologies and contexts that you did not sign up for. This is even more disastrous , when there are large scale inequities in how much content is produced and shared in certain parts of the world.
The majority of African cultural websites are not produced within Africa. As a result the online space is able to facilitate anyone to become a global African cultural director. One can easily influence what is considered to be African, and through extension what is considered to be ‘Black’ and ‘Afro’
Ugh. this is a tough question. I do not know I have a direct answer.
Digital art from various artists on the continent has been associated with Afrocentrism. This has caused a lot of debate and frustration for some artists. What is your opinion on this? What are some of the other terms that you feel offer an understanding of art from the continent outside of this framework?
I completely understand this dilemma and I am also pulled into it. African Digital Art was actually just a descriptive term, digital art from Africa. And somehow when Africa is added to the mix it is very easy to be labelled and tagged in a certain way.
A few years ago I participated in an exhibition, Post African Futures, curated by Tegan Bristow. The exhibition was an attempt on expanding the definition of African digital practices. Not only were digital artist being pulled into the Afrocentrist label they were also being labelled as Afrofuturists. Digital artists were invited to use digital technologies as a means of resisting cultural predomination.
It is important for us to develop a broader way of thinking by encouraging growth within the creative sector in Africa. We will be able to provide nuanced conversations if we have more African artists participating in the space.
Jepchumba, ‘Sleepless’, 2012
There has been a lot of discussion around the difficulties in displaying and selling digital art within traditional gallery spaces. What are some of the conversations you are involved in or have heard/read about that tease out these difficulties? What are some of the attempts to re-think traditional art display and selling that you think could be built on for solutions?
I would argue that digital art in Africa was never meant to be within traditional gallery spaces. I would invite digital practitioners to think creatively about other models of financially supporting their practice. Most of African art institutions and galleries are funded and supported by the west, most of those institutions are seeing their budgets cut. This is trickling down to African art spaces. I would direct artists to think about creating experiences rather than objects to sell.
As a digital artist and a curator I have reframed my thinking on this. I am not necessarily interested in selling digital artifacts or objects but rather I am interested in creating experiences that people will support financially. We also need to invest in spaces. Spaces that will be centered around education and radical expression.
Ultimately, as a digital artist you now have the ability to control, the work that you produce and also the financial models that will enable you to support yourself. This is an exorbitant amount of pressure but it is the times that we live in now. Worldwide, no one really has any clue to remain sustainable in the arts and creative industry. But we have no choice to figure it out through trail and error.
Are there any particular artists, movements or platforms that stand out for you at the moment?
Yes. I have been mesmerized by the evangelical christian movement in Africa. I think it is one of the movements that is largely ignored by the often secularized art industry. My obsession came because I realized that the church remains Africa’s greatest cultural influencer. Mega churches across the continent have become leading innovators in the digital arts sector. They produce large scale digital content, large scale crowdfunding, they offer digital healing and digital materials that is spread throughout Facebook and Whatsapp. They are also very well funded institutions often with entire production companies at their disposal. I find this absolutely fascinating and I hope that it is talked about more rather than just ridiculed by our own biases.
Anything else you would like to mention about your own practice and African Digital Art?
I started VJiing. It is the worst term ever. I am looking for an alternative term because I cannot come to terms with calling myself that. So please find me on twitter or instagram with a better term. Or just say hi. Also if you are digital artist yourself please make yourself known to us we would love to get to know you.
The black body is a highly contested terrain that demands serious and complex examination into the lived experience of marginalized people. The Black Portraitures conference III, “a series of conversations about imagining the black body” was held from the 17th till the 19th of November 2016. This event was to be “a forum that [gave] artists, activists, and scholars from around the world an opportunity to share ideas from historical topics to current research on the 40th anniversary of Soweto”.
Though it was initially meant to be held on the Wits university campus, due to the growing fears of student protests in Johannesburg, it was later moved to the Turbine hall the home of Anglo America. This new venue with its concrete walls and security at every corner would ensure that this conference would continue without any outside delay.
The far-reaching influence of South African Artists like Ernest Cole and George Pemba would influence the decision to host the conference in Johannesburg, South Africa. Their works showed the harsh realities of black people under Apartheid and would give record to its struggle. It was also the music of Miriam Makeba and the images featured in Drum magazine that revealed this country as a rich source of a cultural production whose influence would make its way across the Atlantic.
Today this influence continues through the works of Zanele Muholi. Her works on queer black bodies in the South African townships would constantly be referenced throughout the panel discussions that I attended. She would also contribute to the opening remarks as she asked the South African participants to sing their national Anthem, a motion that would be consumed with wide-eyed enjoyment of our mostly American colleagues.
The speakers of the conference were drawn form academia, the arts, theatre, art history, journalism, literature and dance. These intellectuals would go on to provide a diverse analysis relating to black lives dealing with “the recent Rhodes must fall protests, #BlackLivesMatter, photography from post conflict zones, the poetry and politics of black hair and the 40th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising.” (http://suttonpr.com/assets/In-Context-2016-press-pack.pdf)
The presence of US Ambassador Patrick Gaspard, armed with his suite clad body guards whispering into plastic ear pieces, reflected on the importance of this conferences:
“It is of keen consequence that this conversation arrive in Johannesburg not only at a moment of historical reflection, but also at the a critical juncture when the masses of young Africans throughout the diaspora are no longer mere subjects in the running narrative on equal access to justice, but have become the provisional producers and curators of their own provocation” (www.blackportraitures.info)
Yet the discussions within the conferences panel would go to show the black diaspora were never just the subjects of such narratives to begin with. The conference would show the ways in which black bodies have been constantly excluded from the very mainstream knowledge production that would seek to establish them as inferior. What I would see is an examination into how those same bodies would seek alternative avenues in which to assert their identity and humanity in the midst of their systematic silencing. It is this very same process which continues today resulting in the emergence of new political movements that continue the struggle for the recognition of black lives.
One such panel whose focus on Afrofuturism would examine how this literary and cultural aesthetic was being used in Detroit by artists and musicians to create new urban movements against gentrification and for basic amenities in mostly back communities.
A well attended panel on “Universal Blackness: The diaspora Experience in the 21st century” would be presented by the Art Noir collective. Their discussion examined the deep challenges of black production within the arts. The very conference would be an expression of such challenges with the view that the conference was American organised and mostly funded. Although featuring many black American artists what resulted was the sidelining of the ideas and perspectives of local (South) African artists. The struggle was one from those from the South to take back their own spaces of production but also be very conscious of their own complacency within the very artistic structures that would maintain the unequal position of black artists in the art world.
One panel on Black power and protest went on to examine how “images have been used to protest ignorant notions of inferiority, while simultaneously combating apathy by attracting citizens to join movements.” Zanele would herself present in this discussion examining how her work as a photojournalist documented the lives of those sidelined in society whilst also acting as reclamation of their existence through portraits of black queer bodies.
With over 150 papers presented there was no shortage of good conversations and questions from the participants. The afternoon would also offer much entertainment and visual inspiration. For the opening night The Goodman gallery would host the conference opening with a festive reception and a celebration of its 50th anniversary in 2016.
As part of celebration the Goodman would host the exhibition Africans in American which formed a part of their In Context 2016 series. The series functioned in “tracing the criss-crossing lines, shared histories and points of departures in the field of African, African Diaspora and African American Art and Art history” by working with the Black Portraitures Conference in “addressing [the] gaps in art history and re-writing it from diverse perspectives” (http://suttonpr.com/assets/In-Context-2016-press-pack.pdf).
The closing ceremony of the conference would be held at the Johannesburg art Gallery and feature some of South Africa’s leading figures in historical and current contemporary art. Some of the artists include Mary Sibande, Tracey Rose and Zanele Muholi. Also featured are the works of Dumile Feni and Gerard Sekoto as part of the historical presentation (https://friendsofjag.org/news-stories/2016/11/11/the-evidence-of-things-not-seen).
Though the conference may be over you can still view the exhibition at the JAG and Goodman Galleries, that for any contemporary South African art enthusiast is a definite must see. Though the conference is over its impact can still be found in the ideas and challenges presented to its participants and speakers at the event.
Yet one has to be in wonder of thelogo for the In Context 2016 series. It features image of two continents, North America feeding into an Africa coming from below. This ironical presentation of the North to South dialogues seems to unintentionally reflect the deep power imbalance between these two continents. The conference aimed to find the commonalities between our lived experiences as a black diaspora. However, are we adequately able to engage with such ideas when global inequalities are so apparent, especially amongst its participants? Its privileged American (and even local) participants enter the space as Americans and the power that comes with such citizenship where the majority of African’s are being excluded from such opportunities.
The question to ask is how the dialogue amongst its participants would have been different had those without the power and privilege of being able to enter such middle class spaces? The very spaces that claim to be engaging with the ideas surrounding black knowledge can inadvertently exclude the very voices that they claim to be engaging with. There can be no real discussion surrounding equality and justice when those most affected by the lack of such are excluded from these debates.
Earlier this year NASA released declassified files debunking a conspiracy theory which had grown up around the 1969 Apollo 10 mission. According to the legends, astronauts had reported hearing inexplicable sounds as they orbited the dark side of the moon. However, the NASA info revealed a more down to Earth explanation- hearing static from their radio statements, the astronauts joked that it sounded like ‘outer-space-type music’.
An entire library could be written on how the vastness of space, from our local system to the infinite cosmos beyond has inspired musicians. In the same year as Apollo 10, David Bowie had his breakthrough with Space Oddity, and shortly after Pink Floyd sold millions with Dark Side of The Moon. More recently, space themes have permeated hip hop. Outkast announced they were Atliensand Lil Wayne claims to be a Martian. DJ Esco and Future’s latest Esco Terrestrial seems obsessed with the search for life beyond Earth. And with his remarkable 2015 mixtape Gemini, The Good Dokta looked from South Africa to the stars above.
This unfairly slept on project is the work of Durban born Dokta Spizee, who first came to prominence as one half of Dirty Paraffin. With Gemini he takes a giant leap beyond his earlier work, showing his strength and substance as a solo instrumental composer. The song titles reference emerging stars and black holes, red suns and exploding supernovas. And the music lives up to this grandeur. It is stirring and emotive and leaves you with a sense of glowing positivity. Dust (Nebula Theme Explodes) begins with a driving instrumental, before exploding into an anthemic vocal hook. The eerie Gravity replicates the sense of seeing the Earth from orbit from the first time. The End is the sound of watching the sunrise on a distant planet.
Awe, anxiety and majesty all together. This powerfully cinematic music owes as much to the soundtracks of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien and Interstellar as it does to hip hop.
The Good Dokta will be teaming with Chanje Kunda for this weekend’s TABOO event, an immersive performance experience held at Bubblegumclub’s Newton Junction headquarters. Running from 3 to 7pm on July 2, it is a must if you are looking to expand your mind beyond the bounds of Earth.
A film about connections and their potential to stimulate innovation. Commissioned by British Council Connect ZA for the launch of InnovationZA 2015 at iThuba Arts Gallery in Braamfontein.
One of the dominant aesthetics in Johannesburg culture is a focus on cultural-identity – and what does it mean to be African in this gritty and cosmopolitan city. Boosted by optimism about the future, this trend has influenced not only the cityʼs arts and culture, but has also filtered into everyday life, influencing the way people dress, socialise and engage with their space. However, more and more cultural practitioners are finding this focus on the local and on cultural identity restrictive. Their work draws on globally circulating culture images, sounds and ideas, fuelled by increased impact of the internet on daily life.They see culture as a site of possibility, to create new identities, expressions, symbols and mythologies, which capture the complexity of Johannesburg in the early 21st century – beyond even the city as an afropolitian space, they view it as a futuristic world city. At the same time these artists are wary of the danger of commercialisation and being turned into brands – in fact one of the reasons they have moved away from a focus on locality is that work that is strongly associated with only one context can be co-opted by global capital.
Obasi’s work takes the form of a gestural film as there is no audible dialogue and yet, the gestures and narrative are well woven together so that the simple storyline cannot be construed as one of haphazard play (every scene has been well thought out). A theme that is carried throughout the film is that of fashion. We see the male character played by Oke Tobi Subomi in the film take the human femme (Rebecca Fabunmi) and alien into a photo shoot setting made up of Vlisco fashion and a backdrop pattern of black and white squares against which the fashion ensembles stand out triumphant. Headpieces, beaded on the humans and more futuristic on the alien take centre stage.
A scene lingers in a dark room with red light and as we see the last of the alien’s stay the lighting takes on a blue, extra-terrestrial statement. The darkroom where the male character develops his images of the fashion shoot act as a possible signifier towards an act of creating a physical object – a proof of what had transpired – an alien visiting Lagos. Obasi ends off his piece with the alien in the same setting she was originally found and the viewer assumes that it is the last that will be seen or heard from the alien. The upbeat soundtrack that flows through the piece assists in making this film light-hearted and the viewer does not perceive her voyage home as one that should be taken in with sadness.
Obasi’s contemporary Afro Futurist film is vibrant and celebrates Nigerian culture as well as focuses on African fashion and the energy that it carries. His considerations of the colour of lighting and the possible symbolism connected, adds another layer to this work. His ability to keep a concise narrative throughout the film despite having no audible dialogue verges on brilliance. I look forward to his next offering.
One of the dominant aesthetics in Johannesburg culture is a focus on cultural-identity – and what does it mean to be African in this gritty and cosmopolitan city. Boosted by optimism about the future, this trend has influenced not only the cityʼs arts and culture, but has also filtered into everyday life, influencing the way people dress, socialise and engage with their space. However, more and more cultural practitioners are finding this focus on the local and on cultural identity restrictive. Their work draws on globally circulating culture images, sounds and ideas, fuelled by increased impact of the internet on daily life.They see culture as a site of possibility, to create new identities, expressions, symbols and mythologies, which capture the complexity of Johannesburg in the early 21st century – beyond even the city as an afropolitian space, they view it as a futuristic world city. At the same time these artists are wary of the danger of commercialisation and being turned into brands – in fact one of the reasons they have moved away from a focus on locality is that work that is strongly associated with only one context can be co-opted by global capital.