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Showing posts from August, 2015

Vasco Manhiça’s Point of View | Mozambique

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The Process of Seeing: Vasco Manhiça’s Point of View By: Erin M. Rice 21.7.2015 Vasco Manhiça’s newest body of work is a product of two formative years since his last show in Maputo in 2013. After a brief return to Germany, in 2014 he attended a residency program in Dakar called Àsìkò (run by the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos), which had a profound impact on his approach to art as an instrument of social critique. Informed and inspired by the politically and critically charged practices of the faculty that ran the Asiko program, Manhiça turned his practice in late 2014 away from painting to an extended period of intense reading and exploration of the theorizations of Africanity and postcoloniality as they relate to the art world. Early in 2015, Manhiça moved to Berlin, arguably Europe’s center for contemporary art. He connected with a network of artists, several of whom also come from Mozambique, and found amongst his contemporaries another rich source of influence and inspiratio

Abeer Seikaly | Jordanian-Canadian Architect, Designer and Artist

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Weaving a home...how one woman can help millions of people globally 19th Aug 2015 Sharing Money Energy   A sustainable tent that collects rainwater, folds up for easy transport and stores solar energy? Sounds visionary, right? But this is the invention of Jordanian-Canadian architect, designer and artist Abeer Seikaly. [IMAGE: Abeer Seikaly] Seikaly designed these amazing multipurpose tents with refugees in mind, people who have been displaced by global and civil war, climate change and more.  Inspired by elements of nature such as snake skin and traditional cultural aspects such as weaving, nomadic life and tent dwellings, this weather proof, strong but lightweight and mobile fabric tent gives refugees shelter but also a chance to "weave their lives back together". The flexible dual layer tent structure has the ability to c

Sidy Diallo from Senegal | Death of An Artist

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Sidy Diallo at Brundyn By Themba Tsotsi 04 September - 25 October. Sidy Diallo Points et Iténeraire 2 et 1, 2013. Acrylic and Pastel on Canvas Each: 200 x 150 cm. From the 4 September to the 25 October 2014, Brundyn+ Gallery hosted Sidy Diallo’s exhibition 'Points et Itineraires'. Sidy Diallo is a painter from Senegal who works in a style that is inspired by lithography, a medium characteristic of many African artists. The exhibition is comprised of images that depict bridges and roads, whose forms seem to implicitly contain the anonymity of transition, and within Diallo's context they are further imbued with political connotations. The way Diallo explores his interests within the medium has to do with the scale of the work; he incorporates paint and other materials like brown paper making the work multimedia in nature. In his style however, he quotes the traditional use of lithography within an African context which surro

Tuira Kayapo Talks The Truth

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  Statement from Lucienne Sheyla | Lucienne Sheyla   Statement from Lucienne Sheyla | Lucienne Sheyla Tuira Kayapo' is an indigenous Elder Mama Warrior who showed the world what happens when women take charge of their power. She walked into the 1989 Altamira Gathering in Brasil against the construction of Dams in the Xingu, in her war paint, naked and carrying a large machete. She then walked up to the President of Brasil's Light holding Company Petrobras and running the blade of her machete three times over his cheeks, proclaimed his act on her people and on the entire Amazon as an act of war. She then stated in Kayapo': "You are a liar - We do not need electricity. Electricity is not going to give us our food. We need our rivers to flow freely: our future depends on it. We need our jungles for hunting and gathering. We do not need your dam." Everyone stood in absolute awe at her audacity, especially the President of Petrobras who looked quite afraid

Gordon Parks | Renaissance Man

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Here is a world renowned photographer, a symphony composer, a writer of 14 books, a poet and a film director - without any formal education Gordon Parks is most certainly a modern day Renaissance man and an inspiration to us all. His life covers the most exciting part of American history; that of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950 and 60's and he plays a huge part in shaping that story. His compassion for others is so evident and his confidence allowed him to achieve an enormous amount in a life so well lived. Self belief, will power and charisma make an unstoppable combination.

Emmanuel fait France par Joe Pollitt

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*N.B. Bing Translate from the English - Exposition à la Galerie d'Art Beautiful, Vichy. « Flourism » Artiste : Emmanuel Kavi du Togo   Adoration Dramaturge Arthur Miller, a écrit sa célèbre pièce d'un seul acte, « Incident à Vichy » en 1964, qui observe un groupe d'hommes détenus à Vichy, France. Les hommes sont tous détenus dans une cellule de détention improvisé, en attente de l'inconnu. Ce qu'ils sont détenus pour bientôt devient apparent, leur inspection « raciale » par du Souss gendarmes Vichy et officiers de l'armée allemande pendant la seconde guerre mondiale. La pièce dissèque la véritable nature des êtres humains, en se concentrant sur ce qui a été fait dans la ville et facilité la tyrannie et l'intimidation peuvent dominer la majorité faible. Les thèmes de cette courte pièce de théâtre s'articulent autour des idées de culpabilité, de peur et de complicité et examine comment les Nazis ont pu perpétrer l'Holocauste avec si peu de résista