Tag: Fashion

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112 years later, African art (and controversy) at Venice Biennale

Olu Oguibe on cover of Modern Painters Junee 2007 Venice Biennale issueThe June issue of Modern Painters magazine features a cover story on the first African Pavilion to ever open at the 112 year old Venice Biennale. The Biennale, arguably the most prestigious contemporary arts festival in the world, has been around since 1895 with little or no African representation, until now. Curated by Fernando Alvim and Simon Njami (Africa Remix), the Check List Luanda POP show at the Africa Pavilion features 30 artists’ works from the Sindika Dokolo African Collection of Contemporary Art in Luanda, Angola. The exhibition which opened on June 10 was selected by a panel of experts composed of Meskerem Assegued, Ekow Eshun, Lyle Ashton Harris, Kellie Jones, Bisi Silva and chaired by Robert Storr to represent the African continent at the 52nd International Art Exhibition.

Venice Biennale Africa PavilionThe selection of the Sindika Dokolo Foundation‘s collection as a representation for Africa came with a bit of controversy surrounding the business activities of Congolese businessman and art collector Sindika Dokolo’s family and associates. Most notably a July 2006 article in the French-language newspaper La Conscience titled “The Dokolo Affair” which alleged that under the Mobutu Sese Seko regime, Sindika Dokolo’s father, Sanu, created the Bank of Kinshasa, which “channeled money to members of his own family including Sindika himself, bilking the state and normal depositors of more than $80 million dollars when it imploded in 1986”. In a reply to the Artnet Magazine’s story titled “Art and Corruption in Venice”, Dokolo stated that the goal of his art collection is to help Africans build “a strong point of view on the world that would be their own,” Despite the initial controversy, the Check List Luanda POP show has gone on to set a precedent which I hope will continue. Below is a list of the artists featured. Also listen to the “Ghostworld” a mix of music accompanying the show, produced by DJ Spooky.

Check List Luanda Pop – African Pavilion
52nd Venice Biennale International Contemporary Art Exhibition

Curators
Fernando Alvim (Angola)
Simon Njami (Cameroon)

Produced and organized by Foundation Sindika Dokolo

Listen to DJ Spooky’s “Ghostworld”
[audio:http://www.annansiclothing.com/Ghostworld.mp3]

Artists works showing

  • Ghada Amer (Egypt)
  • Oladélé Bamgboyé (Nigeria)
  • Miquel Barcelo (Spain)
  • Jean Michel Basquiat (USA)
  • Mario Benjamin (Haiti)
  • Bili Bidjocka (Cameroon)
  • Zoulikha Bouabdellah (Algeria)
  • Loulou Cherinet (Ethiopia)
  • Marlène Dumas (South Africa)
  • Mounir Fatmi (Marocco)
  • Kendell Geers (South Africa)
  • Ihosvanny (Angola)
  • Alfredo Jaar (Chile)
  • Paulo Kapela (Angola)
  • Amal Kenawy (Egypt)
  • Kiluanji Kia Henda (Angola)
  • Paul D. Miller Aka DJ Spooky (USA)
  • Santu Mofokeng (South Africa)
  • Nastio Mosquito (Angola)
  • Ndilo Mutima (Angola)
  • Ingrid Mwangi (Kenya)
  • Chris Ofili (UK/Nigeria)
  • Olu Oguibe (Nigeria)
  • Tracey Rose (South Africa)
  • Ruth Sacks (South Africa)
  • Yinka Shonibare, MBE, (UK/ Nigeria)
  • Minnette Vári (South Africa)
  • Viteix (Angola)
  • Andy Warhol (USA)
  • Yonamine (Angola)

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Hip-hop’s African ancestry at Odyssey Awards

Beverly Fab5 and Kofi at H20Last Saturday I attended the 5th Annual Hip-Hop Odyssey (H2O) Awards, held at BB Kings in New York City. Organized by the Hip-Hop Association, the awards ceremony recognized today’s hottest Hip-Hop filmmakers, industry professionals and pioneers. The event always features appearances and performances by Hip-Hop heavyweights. This year’s event, as usual, was packed with many of the individuals who have played a major part in shaping the hip-hop landscape including, artist/entrepreneur/hip-hop personality Fab 5 Freddy (that’s him in the picture standing in front of me as we listen to DJ Beverly Bond speak about YO! MTV Raps’ late producer Ted Demme), Ice-T (who gave an excellent acceptance speech about staying true to oneself), Dana Dane, Grand Wizard Theodore, (Dr.) Roxanne Shante, Ralph McDaniels (Video Music Box), The Cold Crush Brothers, Chubb Rock and much more.

One thing I’ve always enjoyed about the awards and the preceding H2O International Film Festival, is how the organizers (Martha Diaz, Rolando Brown etc) make a conscious effort to show the influence of African (and international) cultures on the growth of America’s hip-hop/urban culture. A few years back, besides the performance by the Nomadic Wax Global Hip-hop All-stars’ Chosan (Sierra Leone) , Eli Efi (Brazil) , and El Gambina (Korea), the festival grand prize went to Hip-Hop Colony, a film about the African hip-hop explosion – now on DVD. This year Hip-Hop Colony’s Kenyan director, Michael Wanguhu, was on hand to present an award. To further encourage the hip-hop generation to connect with Africa, this year’s awards was sponsored by and involved a presentation by popular DNA lineage identification company African Ancestry Inc. Some of you might remember that African Ancestry Inc. was the company behind VH1’s Spike Lee-directed February (Black History month) spot which promoted a stronger connection between African-Americans and the African continent through DNA swab testing. African Ancestry’s President, Gina Paige, was on hand at this year’s H2O Awards ceremony to present the evening’s host, Paul Mooney, with his personal DNA test results. Upon revealing that Paul Mooney’s lineage goes back to Guinea-Bissau (I don’t remember which specific ethnic group was cited), Gina Paige presented Mr. Mooney with a folder containing the details of the tests as well as a t-shirt with a Guinea-Bissau logo. A very nice touch.

African Ancestry offers a great solution for African-Americans looking to re-connect with their African heritage. With the DNA procedure gaining popularity and support from African-American celebrities like Oprah, Whoopi Goldberg, LeVar Burton, Chris Tucker, Chris Rock, and Isaiah Washington – who also holds a seat on African Ancestry’s Board of Directors -, and media outlets from ABC’s Good Morning America to PBS championing the efforts, African Ancestry has already begun to solidify the link between African-American and African cultures.

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Top African-American talent plan trip to African Union Summit, Ghana

African Union Summit Hollywood Group

On Friday, June 15th, some of Hollywood’s most influential African-American talent got together at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, California for a panel discussion on promoting African-American interest in Africa. The meeting also served to organize a trip to attend the 9th Annual African Union Summit in Ghana next week. The gathering was organized by designer Ozwald Boateng, and included Jamie Foxx, Chris Tucker, Mos Def, Herbie Hancock, James Mathis, and Isaiah Washington – whose Gondobay Manga Foundation was started after he discovered that he is genetically linked to Sierra Leone’s Mende people. During the African Union Summit, held in Ghana from 25 June – 3 July 2007, 50 influential African-Americans will meet with the 53 attending African presidents to discuss the continent’s future. The African Union Summit’s ultimate goal is of full political and economic integration leading to the United States of Africa. It’s good to see African-Americans playing an active part in planning Africa’s future.

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Vanity Fair’s Africa issue debuts

Iman Alicia Keys Vanity FairJune07coverJayZ George Clooney Vanity FairJune07cover

The Bono-edited July 2007 issue of Vanity Fair, dubbed the “Africa issue”, has hit stands. What an issue this is. With 20 covers photographed by Vanity Fair’s go-to photographer, Annie Leibovitz , and insight on Africa from EVERYONE from Jay-Z, Iman, Djimon Hounsou, Desmond Tutu, Chris Rock, Madonna, Barack Obama, and Queen Rania of Jordan among others, this issue is a great effort on the part of Vanity Fair. Get a copy, read the articles, and let me know your views. Props to YG for the heads up and images.

As you read this—historic—issue of Vanity Fair, the Global Fund is benefiting, but that’s not the main reason we kidnapped this publication’s extraordinary photographers and storytellers. We needed help in describing the continent of Africa as an opportunity, as an adventure, not a burden. Our habit—and we have to kick it—is to reduce this mesmerizing, entrepreneurial, dynamic continent of 53 diverse countries to a hopeless deathbed of war, disease, and corruption. Binyavanga Wainaina’s piece on Kenya is an eye- and mind-opener. From here, what’s needed is a leg up, not a handout. Targeted debt cancellation and aid mean 20 million more African kids are in school, 1.3 million Africans are on lifesaving drugs. Amazing. -from Bono’s guest editor’s letter

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Live modeling Adidas’ Materials of the World

SHOWstudio and Adidas Materials of the WorldRenowned fashion photographer Nick Knight is at it again with another fashion/art/multimedia project. His seminal SHOWstudio site – through which I had the honor of participating on the iD Magazine/London Fashion Week “Bring and Buy” project some years ago – now features a commercial project that “rethinks traditional advertising using motion image”. The project features 10 models from a range of mixed ethnic backgrounds -five male and five female- filmed wearing pieces from adidas’s new ‘Materials of the World’ line, “a collection influenced by the indigenous fabrics of different world cultures”. If you’d like to see the latest release of the Adidas Materials of the World Africa jackets in action on live models head over to the SHOWstudio Skin project site.

Skin is an undertaking by the company &Son, the creative consultancy run by stylists Simon Foxton and Nick Griffiths; a commercial project that rethinks traditional advertising using motion image. Ten models from a range of mixed ethnic backgrounds -five male and five female- are filmed wearing pieces from adidas’s new ‘Materials of the World’ line, a collection influenced by the indigenous fabrics of different world cultures. Over a period of ten days beginning on May 10, the living portraits will be also be displayed in the windows of a Curtain Road shop front in London’s Shoreditch where the attention of passers by will be tested to register that it is film and not stills that they are seeing. In this sense, Skin is a subtle development out of Simon Foxton’s previous Sittings: Thirty Men project of 2005 and a handsome addition to SHOWstudio’s ongoing study of living fashion portraiture.

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Africa’s next chapter convenes at TEDGlobal 2007

Chris Anderson and Emeka Okafor at TEDGlobalOne of the most important events for Africa’s technology, entertainment, and design industry development, TEDGlobal 2007, is in full swing in Arusha, Tanzania. Coming from vacation I have been reinvigorated by all the developments coming out of this seminal event. Now in it’s 3rd day, the conference has already given me more than enough insight into innovative ideas behind Africa’s next chapter. With all the information and idea sharing at this event, the African blogosphere is sure to be fueled for a long time to come. Below are some important resources for keeping up to date with the happenings in Tanzania. I’ll be watching and listening closely as I hope you all are.

Live updates:
Soyapi Mumba is Twittering TEDGlobal
Ethan Zuckerman of My Heart’s in Accra is live-blogging

Other bloggers at TEDGlobal 2007:
TEDFellow Erik Hersman, of White African
TEDFellow Rafiq Phillips at WebAddiCT
DNA
David McQueen
Africa Beat, by Jennifer Brea
Bankalele
Mental Acrobatics
AfroMusing
TEDFellow Mweshi
TEDFellow Fran Osseo-Asare, of Betumi: The African Food Network
TEDFellow Soyapi Mumba
TEDFellow Ramon Thomas, of NETucation
Ndesanjo Macha, who writes Digital Africa, in English, and Jikomboe, in Swahili
Fifthculture
Ellen Horne at Radio Lab in Tanzania
ClassV
Sam Ritchie
Harinjaka (in French)
Kenyan Pundit, by TED Conference speaker and blogger Ory Okolloh
Timbuktu Chronicles, by TEDGlobal conference director Emeka Okafor
and of course you can get official updates at the TED blog site

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Vogue, Keira Knightley donate food & Louis Vuitton to African elephant’s rehab

Keira Knightley gives baby elephant Louis Vuitton fro VogueThe concept for the June 2007 Vogue magazine cover story is a diary of British actress Keira Knightley’s “vacation in Africa” – more specifically Kenya. While the idea was probably someone’s eureka moment for an interesting feature, the resulting shoot and story is another re-hashing of Out of Africa. The fashion blogosphere has taken issue with one image in particular where the actress is photographed feeding a baby elephant which has been draped with a leather Louis Vuitton blanket.

After lunch at the Giraffe Manor, a hotel near Nairobi where giraffes roam the grounds, Keira donned a chic gray Bottega Veneta frock to visit the baby elephants at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Mbagathi, the only successful project in the world at rehabilitating orphaned elephants into the wild. Her diary entry for that day reads, “Today everyone tried to catch the baby elephants so we could put Louis Vuitton blankets on their backs. I’ve never seen anything more brilliantly stupid. I hope Louis Vuitton like it; they should definitely give the elephant a modeling contract.” – via Style.com

The fashion spread also includes a photo of the actress “roughing it” with some Maasai herdsmen- how original -, and some other shots of Ms. Knightley living out her rugged Africa dreams (circa 1910). I know Vogue is not the most progressive magazine, however you’d think that with all the resources they have the editors can find a creative way to tie in the Africa theme. They could have at least hired a photographer like Andrew Dosunmu, Marc Baptiste, or Stanley Lumax to lend their unique talent to the idea. But it just goes to prove how the perspective of Africa in popular culture is so limited. We can say that the editors at Vogue are at fault but, the true failure of the whole feature is with the Africans involved in the shoot who perhaps felt they had no choice but to offer their resources up to strengthen an image of Africa which ultimately would limit their ability to grow out of the early 1900’s image of the continent. This is why I place so much weight on the shoulders of those of us who live and work abroad to act as ambassadors and communicate our experiences constantly. One might say that the Vogue spread is just poor execution, however, the underlying theme is the real problem. The campaign to re-brand Africa has to take place both on the continent and abroad in order for it to be a success. It’s a tough job but the alternative is worse.

more images via imnotobsessed
2007VogueKeiraKnightley1

2007VogueKeira Knightley62007VogueKeira Knightley52007VogueKeira Knightley3

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Ghana 50 Fashion Show: V&A Museum, London

Tima Atiemo CatwalkHere’s an exciting special event for all my London folks. Ghanaian designer Tina Atiemo is bringing her Avante Garde fashions to a show at the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington – London on the 1st of June 2007. The Ghana 50 Fashion Show is part of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s event series celebrating 50 years of Ghanaian art and design. I’m sure Tina will bring some great designs as she did when she joined Ozwald Boateng, Deola Segoe and other African designers in the CatWALK the World event in Ghana last year. If you’re in London on June 1st check out the show and the exhibit.

Details
SPECIAL EVENT: Ghana 50 Fashion Show at the V&A Museum
Show Times: 16.00pm and 18.30–22.00
Location: Raphael, Room 48a
Price: Free entry to the show, but tickets must be collected for this event outside the Raphael, Room 48a between 15.30 – 19.00.

Join us for the Ghana 50 launch party with celebratory speeches by leading Ghanaian’s, be amazed by the dazzling fashion showcase of the best in rising Ghanaian talent, discover what’s on the Ghana, Gold and Slaves trail, view the special commemorative display of Asante Goldweights, and meet British Ghanaian visual artists and view their Asafo Flag project Forward Africa. In collaboration with cultural partners Africa Image Alliance.

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Age, authority and why Africans wear suits

Respect is deeply rooted in African cultures. We’re taught to refer to anyone who is older than us as “auntie” or ‘uncle”, regardless of whether they are even related to you. In the past it was understood that your “uncle” or “auntie” had years of experience and knowledge over you; that translated into respect and authority. When an elder spoke you didn’t argue or question him/her. You, as the younger person, were regulated to taking the elder person on their word. But somewhere along the line that authority model has become one of Africa’s biggest problems. More and more, as we are inundated with information at a younger age, we begin to question authority. Soon a “Because I said so” is not enough in the household. We begin to ask that people prove themselves before we respect them and grant authority. In societies which are individual-centered technology’s effect on the relationship between the older and younger generations is not as drastic; but in African societies where respect for your elders, to this day, is ingrained in all facets of our lives, the barrage of information has created a serious rift between the generations. There is a large communication gap between the older Africans who are used to age and respect-based authority and the younger Africans who are beginning to ask a lot of questions about our current society. In various African communities it’s a standoff of sorts between the older generation who still remember pre-independence Africa and are insistent on the idea of a 3-piece suit and the authority they should get because of it, and a younger generation who believes that the suit doesn’t make the man, the man makes the suit. Unfortunately our understanding on respect and authority is caught between multiple worlds. And that is reflected in the bureaucracy that stunts many African nations’ growth. How do we maintain our values and traditions of respect and authority and use our knowledge to rid ourselves of the practices that are preventing us from moving forward?

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Dior puts a little soul in it’s Marrakech Express

Alek Wek on Dior Cruise 2008 NYC runway Alek Wek's shoes on Dior Cruise 2008 NYC runway

On Monday evening, designer John Galliano showed his Christian Dior Cruise 2008 collection in New York City. Going into the event I expected the normal couture runway spectacle, including the absence of anything or anyone African (or black). I was delighted to see though that Galliano did his part to at least acknowledge the diversity of the times by including Alek Wek and “it girl” Chanel Iman. While the collection and scenery channeled the 60’s-era, the Parisian fashion house designs and choice of music impressed me with it’s updated view of what luxury lifestyle is today. While the inclusion of only two ethnic models in a show themed “Marrakech Express” is not the best case scenario (hellooo! Moroccans have a unique African culture), I am happy to see that the trends I observed in last season’s shows is not catching on throughout the industry. Hopefully more African models can soon get a chance to lend their authenticity to couture runway shows. Ethiopian supermodel Liya Kabede was also in attendance.