Unseen Art Scene (mirror)

Man and Machine: The Art of Ke lani Abass Obidike Okafor | AfricanColours.com The views of any engineer about machines might just change with the new offerings Kelani Abass has been showing, at the Omenka Gallery in Ikoyi, Lagos. In his second solo exhibition titled “Man and Machine” Abass takes viewers on a roll through a new body of work that involves gears wheels, colours, print and stories told through machines. Kelani Abass, was born in 1979 and has been a full time studio artist since graduating from YABATECH in 2007. His works explore human figures and mythology, the best Painting student in 2007 at YABATECH has featured in about 16 group shows.   Abass worked in his father’s printing press throughout his primary school and secondary school. He grew his creative side and worked the machines while at the press until he left for Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, in 2002 to study art.  “It is fascinating to observe the way machines operate as different parts, to achieve a common g

Born in 1967 on Zambia’s Independence Day  earned him the name Kenneth after the first Republican President Kenneth Kaunda. Later Zenzele a Zulu name meaning self reliance became the name synonymous with the artist’s credentials.  In 1991 Zenzele Chulu enrolled at Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and Commerce, to do his Art Teachers Diploma, he later headed the Art Section and taught art for four years at Kabulonga High School for Boys before joining the Visual Arts Council – Documentation Project as a Research Assistant, it was this period that he motivated himself to take on art administration and cultural management  as his contribution in developing visual arts in Zambia, working with almost the entire spectrum of the Zambian art scene. Since 1998 when he quit from teaching,  Zenzele has immersed his abilities in the creative industry with humility and dedication.  Despite the rages, changes and  challenges faced in the Zambian art scene, he has  shown remarkable zeal in deliv

News from Jo'burg from the amazing  Makhotso Simone

Glenna Gordon/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images By EMILY SCHMALL 10th November 2011 MONROVIA, Liberia — Election officials announced on Thursday that  Ellen Johnson Sirleaf , Africa’s only female president, had been re-elected by an overwhelming margin this week in a runoff vote that was marred by an opposition boycott. Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf won 90.8 percent of the vote in the low-turnout election, easily defeating Winston Tubman, a former United Nations diplomat who said he was withdrawing from the race only days before the voting over what he claimed was fraud in the first round. Independent election observers found no evidence of serious irregularities in either the first or second rounds of voting, and Mr. Tubman’s motives for pulling out remained unclear. Both the Carter Center and monitors from Ecowas, the regional grouping of West African states, said both votes were generally free and fair. Analysts said Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf’s opponent had been expected to lose, boycott or not

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty, Frederick M Brown/Getty, Khaled Abdullah/Reuters Three women who have campaigned for peace and democracy in  Liberia and  Yemen  have been jointly awarded this year's  Nobel peace prize . The Liberian president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Leymah Gbowee, a social worker turned peace campaigner from the same country, will share the 10m kronor (£950,000) prize with Tawakkul Karman, a journalist and pro-democracy activist in Yemen who has been a leading figure in the protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh since January. The Nobel committee said the three had been chosen "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work". "We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society," the committee sa

Suzanne Ouedraogo artist from Burkina Faso. Here is one of my favourite artists. Suzanne Ouedraogo. Her work is quite shocking but this makes it all the more impressive especially coming from Burkina Faso. She has taken bold steps to be outspoken about issues surrounding women - the family, child welfare and sexual violence. Her series on Female Circumcision 2000-2003 Excision 2000 Excision I - 2003 Excision II - 2003 Here is a poem on the subject of female circumcision by a young female Nigerian Poet which goes well with these paintings. Our Dilemma by Chinwe Azubuike You, our gods of immortals and living Of seas and lands Of all visible and not We beseech, hear our cry this day And come to our rescue. Our sacred weapons of pleasure Are being destroyed by the day Rendered useless By our overseeing Lords and Ladies Of ancestral descent. They perform a barbaric operation on our ‘flesh of honour’ And call it ‘Female Circumcision’ In the white man’s language. They mutilate our pride and s