African words
Artists incorporate text with design at Washington museum exhibit
African words and images from the past and the present make a
striking artistic statement in a new show at Washington's National Museum of
African Art.
Smithsonian National Museum of African
Art,
950 Independence Ave.
SW Washington
Power of the Written Word Underscores Tradition in African Art
 Fathi
Hassan Egypt Il passo
storico dell'uomo leggero
(The Light Man's Historical Footstep), 1985
Photographic still from video installation .
Collection of the artist,courtesy Sala Uno
11 February 2005
By Bruce Greenberg
Washington File
TEXTures: Word and Symbol in Contemporary African Art" opened
February 11 and runs through September 4, 2005.
Washington -- "TEXTures is a really important show for us," says Museum
Director Sharon Patton. "It reflects our commitment to collecting and
exhibiting contemporary African art … and is also important as a component of
our celebration of the 25th anniversary … of our association with the
Smithsonian Institution."
In a February 8 press preview, Patton and her staff conducted reporters on a
tour of the works of six African artists arranged in the recently renovated
setting of several large galleries of the subterranean museum.
According to the catalog, TEXTures highlights the creative methods in which
African artists combine writing and calligraphic designs with photography,
murals and freestanding installations. "The artists engage with
long-standing art histories in both African and Western cultures … melding the
written with the visual," it says.
Dr. David Binkley, an organizer of the display, remarked that "this is the
first exhibition to spotlight artists of Africa working in this medium: word and
image combined." For these individuals, employing written language with
multimedia is a way of confronting their colonial past while also taking note of
present-day African culture, he said.
The languages may be literal, but are also employed symbolically, as with
Sudanese-born artist Fathi Hassan of Egypt, who adapts a representational form
of Arabic, his native language, into photographs and murals, transforming these
pseudo-Arabic stylings into forms that lend themselves to the ornamental themes
of his works.
South African Willem Boshoff has created "Writing in the Sand," a
double lane of sand-on-floor display, separated by a central walkway, and etched
with free-associative words designed to represent the ephemeral qualities of
native African languages and their oral traditions -- traditions that are fast
disappearing as a result of English's dominance in that society.
Berni Searle, also from South Africa, has assembled a collection of her
"face photographs," which are translucent and greatly enlarged, and
suspended at eye level on invisible wire. The photos depict various forms of
scarification, ritualized native designs cut or etched into the skin. Her intent
is to evoke the period in history of the African slave trade -- the skin designs
meant to symbolize the branding of slaves -- as well as certain tribal practices
employing scarification as a form of personal adornment.
There is a display of indigo-dyed silk cloth stamped with Islamic-inspired
designs, the work of the Algerian Rachid Koraichi, meant to be evocative of the
silk trade that once flourished in North Africa. The designs have been produced
from large wooden stamps that come from Koraichi's personal collection, which
are included as part of the display.
Perhaps the most controversial work is an installation composed of 57 cartons
encased in white zippered canvas, the sides inscribed with sexually explicit
passages, stacked like so much inventory in a warehouse, not intended for public
view.
Artist Ghada Amer calls her work "Encyclopedia of Pleasure." The texts
are derived from an Arabic manual on sexual and spiritual fulfillment, dating
from the 11th century A.D.
Amer has said that her intent is to contrast the very liberal attitudes of
certain Islamic cultures towards sexuality in ages past with the restrictive
controls that are often placed on sexual expression in contemporary Arab
societies.
As if to drive home that point, her work stands quarantined in its own alcove,
with a sign in front posted by the staff warning patrons of its graphic nature.
"TEXTures: Word and Symbol in Contemporary African Art" opened
February 11 and runs through September 4, 2005.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information
Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
lisez aussi (in French): Ecritures Africaines
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