From the major art events that have shaped this year to a joyful celebration of Black lives and art: these are the editors favourite picks of 2022.
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Why the Venice Biennale Model Is Obsolete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
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.
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