Art by Yinka Shonibare
I was thinking: Okay, so where do I stand? I live in England. I’m from Nigeria. Nigeria was colonised by the British. The Victorian era was the height of colonialism in Africa. How do I relate to the repressive Victorian regime?
So Victoriana for me actually means conquest and imperialism. And so, in a sense, it is actually my fear. So what I then decided to do was to actually confront my fear and face my fear. And the way to confront my fear is to actually parody that fear. A lot of the works came out of my desire to face my fear and to turn it into parody.
Documenta 12
Contemporary art has developed over the years to include implementation of modern digital technique and high-tech materials. The visual concepts are not only 2 or 3 dimensional but encompass sound, feel and multi-dimensional movements in performances and dynamic installations. For the lovers of art, the documenta provides an overview of contemporary art through the works of selected artists from different countries around the world.
Blackbox
Over the years, the basic art forms have been extended through the imaginative power of artists worldwide. Different shapes or forms have been created by implementing different media and objects, which inspire the viewer to perceive art from a new level of thought. An art work titled Black Box is on exhibition at the Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin from the 29th October 2005 till 15th January 2006. The work incorporates drawings, mechanical/kinetic objects, animations/film projections as well as German-African history in a fascinating manner. AFRITOPIC was at the exhibition’s press conference and had the opportunity to interview the South-African artist, William Kentridge and the New-York-based curator, Maria-Christina Villaseñor.
Stephen Lawson
The word ‘creativity’ is used when new ideas are needed or things of high imaginative power are achieved. Not many people are blessed with creativity. Stephen Lawson is an Afro-German blessed with artistic creativity. In a spacious atelier in Soest, Germany, Steve creates intricately beautiful sculptures using natural materials like marble, granite stones and woods. In September 2003, Afritopic editor had the opportunity to interview the soft-spoken sculptor as published below.
Afritopic: Were you into Arts early at school?
Steve: At school, I always wanted to be creative. I was good in science subjects especially in physics and initially thought of pursuing a technical career like my father. However, after my high school graduation (German Abitur), I decided to study architecture. I matriculated at the University of Bochum. Though I found architecture interesting, I realized that I wanted to be creative doing something practical. Meanwhile, a friend introduced me to painting and I started painting.
