Udemba's Portraits Of Displaced Persons

By Tajudeen Sowole

 As complex as conflict is, displacing millions of people across the world, artist, Emeka Udemba highlighting this effects with Tools of Conflicts; a body of work currently showing at Renault Showroom, Victoria Island, Lagos. Udemba’s work, mostly in portraits, questions the place of art, particularly in post-conflict situations.

Organised by Arthouse-The Place, the exhibition brings women and children into focus, in an effort to remind the world of how man’s inability to manage political, social or religious conflicts has always resulted to arms struggle and destructions. Destructions of lives and property across the world leave in its trail millions of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP).

I Am Home by Emeka Udemba    

Clearly a borrowed space for an art exhibition, the Renault Showroom, however, appears like a perfect window to remind the elites that as important as it sounds to spend hard-earned money in buying the glittering state of the art-cars, a crucial attention needs to be given to the victims of war. As art pieces, Udemba’s works, either in charcoal or painting, attempt to distil issue from aesthetics appropriation of visual contents. And quite of note, the emphasis on newsprint, which he implores almost as an additional canvas in nearly all the works on display complements the focus of the show. From such unidentified children or youth portraits such as I Am Home, I Promised To Be Brave and Empowered welcoming you almost at the entrance of the showroom, to a flood of miniatures on women at the distance left, there is no mistaking the fact that Udemba’s Tools of Conflicts echoes the endangered place of women and children in conflicts around the world.

 “The project questions the role of the artist, if any, during conflict and post-conflict situations, the artist who monitors events around the world from his Germany base states and discloses that the exhibition is part of an on-going project.

Noting that the body of work draws attention to society's role, Udemba adds that the exhibition emphasizes to gender, as part of the several other contents of conflicts.

"It explores the role of gender, identity and memory in conflict, the works presented are first and foremost artworks."    

Specifically, the role of artist, perhaps other professionals in the creative sectors is to ensure conflicts do not bring life to a standstill, even in the task to keep memories alive.  "The imagery in the works not only opens new windows and offers new possibilities for critical interaction, but reminds us that life with all its beauty goes on 'despite' conflicts."

Beyond supporting a creative venture, Arthouse explains that Tools of Conflicts offers an opportunity to draw attention to remnants of conflicts, particularly the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).   Conflicts and natural disasters across Nigeria, for example, appear to have placed the country as one of the places around the world that has the largest number of IDPs. And to make the difference in its little way, Arthouse is giving a percentage from the sales of the works as donations to support IDPs in Nigeria.

In his artist’s statement, Udemba writes: "The ongoing animosities in some parts of Nigeria today and in other parts of the world are sharp reminders that violence and conflicts are depressing features of man. In a recent United Nations report, for the first time since the end of the World War II about 50 million people across the globe have been forced to relocate due to armed conflicts. Notwithstanding, as long as these tragedies do not affect us directly, we have a remarkable ability to turn a blind eye. What we see are only numerical casualty figures routinely churned out by the media. After a time these figures start to lose its meaning. They become something else: mere statistics. The question is: Can art be appropriated as a form of a counter-pole to conflicts by shifting images from one context to another?

"The representation of conflicts and inhumane social conditions has become an urgent subject of interdisciplinary examination in recent years. This exhibition 'Tools Of Conflicts’ is part of an ongoing project that adds insight to this process.  This project questions the role of the artist, if any, in conflict and in post conflict situations across the world.

Born 1968, Udemba lives and works in Lagos, Nigeria and in Freiburg, Germany. He has won various grants, prizes and residencies in Africa and Europe. Notable among these are the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, France; Project grant, Price Claus fund, Holland; Project grant of the Siftungskunstfonds in Germany and others. 

Art Dubai 2015… How Artistic Expression Drives Economy

By Tajudeen Sowole (just back from Dubai, UAE)

The strength of private partnership energy that drives art and culture has been exposed at the ninth edition of Art Dubai just as art from Africa expanded its scope. Like the phenomenon growth that Dubai represents as a 21st century model city, Art Dubai exudes a classic example of how to build the art and culture sector into contemporary economy as important contents in business and tour travels.

Global Art Forum co-director, Sultan Sooud Al Qassem (left); Artistic Director at Art Dubai, Antonia Carver; and a partner at The Abraaj Group, Fred Sicre, during the preview

With the 2015 edition, which held few days ago at its traditional venue, Medinat Jumeirah, U.A.E, Art Dubai asserted its status as one of the world’s fastest growing global art spaces.

During the preview, held inside a hall full of representatives from media organisations across the world, Fred Sicre, Partner at The Abraaj Group, stated that the innovation of the private sector and support of the UAE government have been the main engine of Art Dubai. The Abraaj group is Art Dubai’s major partner. Sicre said Art Dubai has been one of the major projects of The Abraaj Group. In fact, he boasted that “we have shown that the private sector has a role to play in arts and culture.” He added that as much as government should be commended for supporting art and culture, the private sector “has a bigger responsibility in innovation.”

Started in 2007 with focus on art from the Middle East, South Asia and Africa, Art Dubai, currently under the artistic direction of Antonia Carver, has grown into a global gathering with contents from nearly all the continents around the world. The 2015 edition confirmed its global status with over 90 galleries and more than 500 artists from 40 countries. Organized by Dubai Culture and Arts Authority with sponsorship from Emaar and Julius Baer, Art Dubai appears to have shown the lead, perhaps, in how to define art patronage in the art and culture space that has been dominated by the west for over a century. “This year, it is more global,” Carver assured during the preview.

For example, the Art Dubai Modern, which started last year, focuses on the works of artists who, in the view of the organisers, have “proved influential in the twentieth century, particularly through the vibrant modern period of the 1940s to 1980s.” The 2015 edition featured masters from across Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. There were 15 galleries for the Modern section, mounted on the ground floor of the Medinat Jumeirah building. Among the galleries at the immediate entrance of the Art Dubai Modern was Mydrim Gallery, from Lagos, Nigeria, which showed the works of Dr Bruce Onobrakpeya, a master printmaker. At the extreme end of the space were the works of Cape Verdian master, Manuel Figueira showed under Perve Galeria, Lisbon, Portugal Other artists from Africa in the same space included Moroccans Mohamed Melehi b. 1936 and Mohamed Hamidi b. 1941 represented by Loft Art Gallery, Casablanca; Shafic Abboud, Agial Art Gallery, Beirut; Shahid Sajjad, ArtChowk, Karachi; Gouider Triki / Hatim Elmekki Elmarsa, Tunis / Dubai; Mohsen Vaziri Moghadam Gallery Etemad, Tehran; Mahmoud Hammad Green Art Gallery, Dubai; Shafic Abboud / Abdallah Benanteur, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris; Farid Belkahia, Le Violon Bleu, Tunis; Dia Azzawi / Marwan Meem Gallery, Dubai; Ernesto Shikhany / Manuel Figueira Perve Galeria, Lisbon; Jamil Molaeb Galerie Janine Rubeiz, Beirut; Kourosh Shishegaran Shirin Gallery, Tehran / New York; Aref El Rayess, The Park Gallery, London. Debuted last year, Art Dubai Modern, according to the organisers, is exclusively partnered with Mashreq Private Banking.

However, the higher volume of visitors traffic generated by the Art Dubai 2015 –  seen at the Contemporary sections and during the Collectors’ Circle Evening – suggested a possible challenge of managing crowd, perhaps in the next two or three editions. With as many as 72 galleries in the Contemporary space, though spread through two halls, the global spread of the contents appeared to have attracted much visitors, particularly moving through lobby of the Medinat Jumeirah.  

Inside the halls that housed the galleries some of the contents were as diverse and as connectings across culture. For example, inside Art 21, a Lagos-based representative of Nigerian sculptor, Olu Amoda nad Benenoise painter, Gérard Quenum, an Arabic interpretation was found for a piece of work. Amoda’s metal series, Sunflower, a round-shaped depiction of blossoming plant “attracted” one of the visitors who thought that the “spoons used” in the lacing of the work “means so much in Arabic,” Caline Chagoury, director at Art 21 disclosed.  “this exactly what Amoda always want to for his work; people should have other interpretation different from his.”

Congo DR photographer, Smmy Baloji, represented by Galerie Imane Fares showed portraits of native communities, perhaps in what could be argued as unpleasant tones, particularly in contemporary context. Photographs of African natives in half nudes, captured in their natural habitation would have been critiqued in strong terms were the works shot or presented by a non-Africa. But Baloji, in this context, merely revisits history and event of over a century ago when the Belgiams were on expedition to Katanga. And quite interesting, he matts the black and white archival pictures onto the colour paintings of landscape by Belgian artist, Léon DardenneIn.

From Ivorian photographer, François-Xavier Gbré’s miniaturised works of original large sizes, there was some kind of novelty in collapsing the large format of some of his works into small pieces. The works were shown alongside that of Yéanzi at Galeries Cecile Fakhoury. For anyone who might have seen Gbre’s large format sizes of photographs of architecture ruins, particularly during his solo exhibition titled Abroad, held at Art 21, Lagos, the miniaturized sizes would be less appreciated. Indeed, for a big event such as Art Dubai, it was an irony that Gbre stunted his works to such a small scale.

Curated by Luiza Teixeira de Freitas, Marker 2015 focused to Latin America’s  “historical and contemporary connections between the region and the Arab world.” The exhibition has been described as “is the largest showcase of Latin American art in the Gulf to date.” At the 2013 edition of Art Dubai, the Marker section was dedicated to art from West Africa and had artists feature under the curator, Bisi Silva. Exhibited artists included Ghanaian master, Ablade Glover, Soly Cisse (Senegal), Abdoulaye Konate (Mali), and Boris Nzebo (Cameroun) in what the orgnisers of Art Dubai described as exploring “the nature of evolving cities in West Africa and the way in which this change impacts society.” Designed as five artspaces, works of the artists have been selected from Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA, Lagos, Nigeria); Espace doual'art (Douala, Cameroon); Maison Carpe Diem (Segou, Mali); Nubuke Foundation (Accra, Ghana); and Raw Material Company (Dakar, Senegal).  For the 2015 edition, Marker focused on Latin America and that region’s relationship with the Arab world.

  

The intellectual context within which art is appreciated was never lost at Art Dubai events as its regular feature Global Art Forum, once again lived up to its expectation. The 2015 edition of the discussion programme had participants talked about the technology and its impact on the world of art and culture.

Co-directed by Turi Munthe and Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, with Shumon Basar as Director-at-Large, had 50 local and international contributors from the worlds of art, tech, literature, philosophy, and media participated.

The Abraaj Group Art Prize, which is one of the key events of Art Dubai continued to promote excellence in art as Yto Barrada won the 2015 edition. Three artists that were shortlisted got a cash prize and represented in a group exhibition at Art Dubai 2015, said The Abraaj Group Art Prize 2015 Guest Curator, Omar Kholeif.  Started a year after Art Dubai made its debut in 2007, The Abraaj group Art Prize was designed to expose less represented artists. “After the application and jury process, four artists were shortlisted for the prize and Barrada won the $100,000 commission prize.”

Nigeria master printmaker, Dr Bruce Onobrakpeya (right) and a visitor to Mydrim Gallery stand during the opening of Art Dubai 2015

Sheikha Manal Little Artist Workshop was another talent sub-event of Art Dubai. Organized under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Manal bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. the programme was described as “artist-conceived projects for children, a partnership between Art Dubai and The Cultural Office, returns for the third year at Art Dubai.”

Other events included Art Dubai Projects, a programme of residencies and new commissions curated in 2015 by Lara Khaldi. It featured A.i.R Dubai residency programme, a partnership between Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, Tashkeel, Delfina Foundation and Art Dubai, returns to Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood and grows to include an extended educational outreach programme.

Also, 2015 marked the launch of Art Dubai Commissions, featuring site-specific works by midcareer regional and international artists Art Dubai Projects commissions artists to create new, site-specific works, exhibited at Art Dubai and Al Serkal Avenue. 

Campus Art Dubai’s Core class took on producing Art Dubai Radio, with a week-long programme of sound, music and talks, live at the fair. Campus Art Dubai (CAD), held in partnership with Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) and supported by Dubai Design District (d3), launched its third season in October 2014. The Campus Art Dubai provided seminars, workshops, critiques and one-on-one mentorship for artists, curators, writers and cultural enthusiasts based in the UAE, with all tuition provided free-of-charge.

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African artists get more space at 2015 Venice Biennale

By Tajudeen Sowole

After the widely applauded success of debutant, Angola Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013, Africa is going to the 2015 edition with an unprecedented number of artists. Coincidentally, the increase in number of African artists, home and from the Diaspora going to the 56th Venice Biennale is coming in the year a Germany-based Nigerian, Okwui Enwezor is the Artistic Director of the Visual Arts Section of the event, a global bi-annual gathering of arts and architecture professionals.

Artistic Director, Okwui Enwezor PHOTO: C/O OF Collector Tribune

During the 2013 edition, Angola, according to the jury, won the Golden Lion Prize for the best national pavilion courtesy of a work titled ‘Luanda, Encyclopedic City’, a photography composite by Edson Chagas.

Under the theme, All the World’s Futures, about 35 black artists from Africa, the U.S and Europe have been announced with nearly half of them based in Africa.   

The 2015 Venice Biennale, which opens from May 9 with previews beginning May 6, and runs through November 22 has over 136 artists from 53 countries. According to a press statement from the organisers, it will feature a space called The Arena, for performance in the Central Pavilion designed by David Adjaye.

he linchpin of this program will be the epic live reading of all three volumes of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital,” said Enwezor.“Here, Das Kapital will serve as a kind of Oratorio that will be continuously read live, throughout the exhibition’s seven months’ duration.” Among several other features is what has been described as a new production of Vincenzo Bellini's Norma (1831), which will be staged at La Fenice Opera House and directed by Kara Walker.

All the Nigerian artists listed are either based outside the country or works in a 'one leg in, another out' kind of status. The list include Karo Akpokiere, b..1981, lives and works in Lagos/ Berlin; Invisible Borders: Trans-African Photographers, an artists’ organisation founded in 2011, based In Lagos, but led by Emeka Okereke, a France-based photographer; Emeka Ogboh b. 1977, lives and works in Lagos/ Berlin.

The Nigerian artists at the 2015 Venice Biennale are not exactly representing the country formally. Nigeria has never had a pavilion at the Venice Biennale, a gathering regarded as the 'Olympics of The Arts'.

Other artists from Africa showing at the event include John Akomfrah, b.1957. Ghana, lives and works In London; Kay Hassan, b.1956, South Africa, lives and works in Johannesburg; Samson Kambalu b. 1975 Malawi, Lives And Works In London; Gonçalo Mabunda, b. 1975, Mozambique, lives and works In Maputo; Ibrahim Mahama, b.. 1987 Ghana, lives and works in Tamale; Abu Bakarr Mansaray, b. 1970, Sierra Leone, lives and works in Freetown/The Netherlands; Wangechi Mutu, b. 1972, Kenya, lives and works in New York; Cheikh Ndiaye, b. 1970 Senegal, lives and works in New York, Dakar And Lyon.

Others are Joachim Schönfeldt, b. 1958, South Africa, lives and works in Johannesburg; Massinissa Selmani, b. 1980 Algeria, lives and works in Algiers/Tours; Fatou Kandé Sengho, b. 1971 Senegal, lives And works in Dakar; Sammy Baloji, b.. 1978 Democratic Republic Of Congo, lives and works in Lubumbashi/Brussels.

  

In 2013, the board of the Venice Biennale, chaired by Paolo Baratta announced Enwezor as the Director of the Visual Arts Section.  In response, Enwezor stated: "No event or exhibition of contemporary art has continuously existed at the confluence of so many historical changes across the fields of art, politics, technology, and economics, as la Biennale di Venezia. La Biennale di Venezia is the ideal place to explore all of these dialectical fields of reference. And the institution of la Biennale itself will be a source of inspiration in planning the Exhibition."