Religious sensitivity has always been a difficult issue to navigate, even in the contemporary world. When it comes to the depiction of God, the whitewashing of the Almighty is not only historically false in the case of Jesus but creates an implicit cultural and historical bias in favour of one race.
Khadambi Asalache, poet and pioneer of modern English Kenyan literature, lived an extraordinary life. Now, more than a decade after his death, the public can view his stunning estate, which he left to the National British Trust. The estate is exceptional because for more than 20 years he decorated it extensively with Moorish-influenced fretwork which he cut by hand from discarded pine doors and wooden boxes.
In an exhibition titled “Liberty”, Omar Victor Diop reinterprets defining moments of historical revolt and black struggle in Africa and the diaspora. His images challenge monolithic history-telling of roles such as African railway workers, French migrants, Second World War soldiers, Jamaican maroons and members of the Black Panther Party.
The first-ever original work of art created using artificial intelligence – a machine-learning algorithm that scans historical artwork – has been sold at auction. “Portrait of Edmond de Belamy” (2018) was sold for an astonishing US$432,500.
Performance artist Serge Attukwei Clottey is best known for his work with the yellow plastic jerrycans that are typically used to collect and carry water. He calls this technique “Afrogallonism”. His performance installations are intended to highlight Ghana’s soaring levels of pollution and to draw attention to social injustice.
Congolese photographer Robert Nzaou Kissolo is known for documenting life from a unique perspective. His hair politics series, done in 2016, and his current Congo delicacies series are peculiar, avant-garde and breathtaking all at once.
Popular illustrator Nicholle Kobi is known for her representation of black women in all their variations in an online space that rarely features them and a country that shuns them. Her work is inspired by the simple manifesto “Carefree Yet Refined”.
The first edition of Tunisia’s Journées de l’art contemporain was a three-day feast of contemporary art, held in the brand-new City of Culture.
Music icon Janet Jackson has returned to the music scene in full force, first by reviving her State of the World tour, which is a rebranding of 2015’s ill-fated Unbreakable tour, and then by releasing new music that features the aesthetic of African designers.
Sheillah Sheldone Charles is a nine-year-old Kenyan artist and designer who, even at such a tender age, knows that her talent is her lifelong path
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