Nigerian Modernism

Jerry Buhari’s Discovery of Landscapes of the Soul

In his three-decade-long practice and through the use of varied media, the Nigerian artist has intimately reflected on himself and his immediate sociopolitical environments.

La Biennale di Venezia

Why the Venice Biennale Model Is Obsolete

With the national pavilion model, the Venice Biennale masquerades provincialism as worldliness. And it’s Global South artists who pay the price.

Artist Portrait

ANDYMKOSI, Even in Darkness, Makes a Space for Light

The South African photographer presents us with an alternative and joyful portrait of Black experiences on the continent.

Andymkosi, Between Sisters, 2021. 25 OCTOBER 2019 : A day before the Johannesburg Pride, Le Grande hosted a Festish Ball with various categories for the queer community to parttake in at the Tennis Club. Courtesy of the artist.

Looking Back

James Baldwin in Istanbul: Art and Activism in Exile

While in Istanbul Baldwin used fierce artistry to unmask the USA’s façade as the custodian of freedom and democracy, explains curator Gürsoy Doğtaş.

When Rain Clouds Gather

Archives of Womanhood and Blackness in South Africa

This exhibition at Norval Foundation shows a detailed history of pioneering Black South African female artists from 1940 to 2000.

Redefining Pottery

Frederick Ebenezer Okai Investigates the Possibilities of Clay

The artist’s solo exhibition explores his relationship with the earth and how his pottery is woven into the complex structures of Ghanaian society.

Frederick Ebenezer Okai, When The Gods Speak, Heaven Listens, 2022. Courtesy the artist. Installation View of Earthy Structures and Contingent Breakthroughs at Gyamadudu Museum, Ghana.

documenta fifteen

Serine Ahefa Mekoun Dives into the Wisdom and Validity of Works of Art

Our author highlights the inspiring artistic positions of this year’s documenta that took place from 8 June to 25 September 2022 in Kassel, Germany.

In Conversation

Marie Hélène Pereira: “I’m very fond of conversations that take you out of the over-intellectualization of things”

Magnus Elias Rosengarten met up with a member of the artistic team of the 12th Berlin Biennale to talk about real encounters, global challenges, and inspirations.

Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU

Gideon Appah’s Forgotten, Nudes, Landscapes: Remembering and Remaking

Gideon Appah paints between memory and fantasy, referencing a Ghana of the 1950s to 1980s, helping us – perhaps – to imagine a new vision, writes Joseph Omoh Ndukwu.

Gideon Appah, Remember Our Stars, 2020. Oil and acrylic on canvas. Photo: Adam Reich

In Conversation

Tabita Rezaire: “I prefer to stand for things I believe in”

In 2021, in the midst of the Amazon forest in French Guiana, artist Tabita Rezaire founded a space for spiritual being and creative exchange.

Photography

Hady Barry and Her Intimate Gaze on Friendship and Motherhood

The very personal photographic series “Wearing the Inside Out” by Hady Barry captures the lives of the Guinean artist’s extended family and friends.

Casablanca International Bienniale

Brandon Gercara: “I have the impression of being in a permanent state of displacement”

For the Casablanca Biennale, the artist explores feminist propositions as a tool for achieving emancipation and better ways of living together.