Famous paintings in art history often hide some intriguing symbols behind them, but so do modern photographs. Take for example in consideration Joana Choumali's series exploring scarification, that is markings on the body.
The markings on the people Choumali portrayed in these images tell the story of the person who wears them, but also refer to history, as this tradition is fading and therefore only people from older generations bear such markings.
Choumali's images are among the many featured in two spell-binding exhibitions opening next week at the Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (MACAAL), Marrakech, in Morocco.
This independent, not-for-profit contemporary art museum is a philanthropic initiative of Moroccan art collectors Alami Lazraq and his son Othman Lazraq. It is one of the first of its kind in North Africa and promotes African art across a range of media, by collecting and exhibiting both established and emerging artists.
Next week visitors will be able to admire a semi-permanent exhibition comprising works of the Fondation Alliances' general collection and "L'Afrique n'est pas une île" (Africa Is No Island), an exhibition of contemporary photography from the African continent and the diaspora.
Curated by Jeanne Mercier and Baptiste de Ville d'Avray of photography platform Afrique in Visu and the independent curator Madeleine de Colnet, "Africa Is No Island" features some poetic, beautiful and powerful images by around 40 emerging and established photographers working from an African perspective.
Works were chosen in accordance with three themes - "Je suis ma représentation" (I am my own representation), "Dessiner des géographies" (Drawing Borders) and "Recueillir l’histoire" (Transcribe History).
Architecture and design-wise the exhibition space is going to be turned by architecture firm Lazraq Bret into an immersive environment inspired by the Moroccan medinas.
A door shaped in the customary circular style will introduce visitors to a maze of complex corridors that hide and reveal the various artworks. The visual experience is accompanied by a sound installation by Italian artist Anna Raimondo reproducing the everyday noises of Marrakech.
The images can be explored from different points of views, looking at traditions, cultures, spirituality, family and relationships and the environment. Some of the series included have got the style of reportages; others are more arty or conceptual, but there is something for everybody here. Architecture and textile or fashion fans will find for example quite a few images they will fall in love with.
François-Xavier Gbré's pictures of dilapidated buildings such as the Supreme court in Dakar or the Elizabeth Hotel in Tiberias, Israel, are fascinating for their layers of dust and debris piling up in these spaces that you could easily imagine being populated by ghosts.
Ivory Coast-born but Benin-based photographer Ishola Akpo's series "L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux", explores the photographer's family history through his grandmother's dowry - gin bottles, clothes, textiles and beads.
Personal history, family photographs and her own performances inspire and inform the images of Johannesburg-based artist Lebohang Kganye who tries to tell stories of migrations and identity in her pictures.
Another multimedia artist working with photography, Maïmouna Guerresi, creates spiritual images inspired by her conversion to Sufism. Quite often the regal poses in her pictures hide everyday objects, such as thrones made of tires or metal buckets, elements that create contrasts with the lyrical images.
Nicola Lo Calzo investigates the legacy of slavery in Africa, the Caribbean, the Americas and Europe, documenting in a reportage-like style how people reappropriated their slavery and passed on the memory to other generations.
The theme of slavery is also central to Ayana V. Jackson's "Dear Sarah" series that looks at the oppression of darker cultures via photography. Jackson reinvented portraits of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, a Nigerian Yoruba woman seized during a slave raid and presented as a gift to Queen Victoria.
In the original images that portrayed Bonetta she was clad in Victorian attire, but the pictures erased her history, the illness she developed due to the British climate and the fact that she was forced into marriage. Posing as Bonetta, Jackson looks defiant and regal and manages through photography to destroy the lies produced by the original photographs.
The black and white images taken by Hicham Benohoud between 1994 and 2000 in the classroom where he used to give drawing lessons are also haunting, with children framed in rather surreal situations, at times morphing into strange creatures using basic materials found in the classroom such as cardboard or sellotape.
Transformation via basic materials is also explored in Namsa Leuba's images taken in Guinea Conakry in which the photographer explores the construction and deconstruction of the body via artifacts, turning people into animated statuettes and ritual tools.
Ecological issues linked to plastic and electronic waste are recurrent themes in Nyaba Léon Ouedraogo's series "Les Phantoms du Fleuve Congo", inspired by the colonial-era text The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, but providing a contemporary vision of the Congo River, showing life as it is lived in and around the symbolic artery of Africa.
There is a powerful and creative energy in the images included in this event that also mirrors the cultural diversity of the African continent. Art fans should take an additional note: the opening of the exhibition coincides with the first African edition of the celebrated contemporary art fair 1-54 in Marrakech, an additional reason to check out this event and put the MACAAL on their personal art maps.
"Africa Is No Island", The Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (MACAAL), Marrakech, Morocco 24th February – 24th August 2018.
Image credits in this post
All images in this post refer to the exhibition "Africa Is No Island" at The Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden (MACAAL), Marrakech, 24 February – 24 August 2018
1. Joana Choumali, Mme Djeneba, Haabré, La Dernière Génération, 2013-2014, print on Baryta paper, 90 x 60cm, courtesy the artist
2. The Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden
3. François-Xavier Gbré, Cour suprême II, Palais de Justice, Cap Manuel, Dakar, Sénégal, 2014, Tracks (2009-2016), print on Baryta paper, 100 x 150cm, courtesy the artist
4. François-Xavier Gbré, Elizabeth Theatre#1, Tiberias, Israel, 2009, Tracks (2009-2016), print on Baryta paper, 80 x 120cm, courtesy the artist
5 - 6. Ishola Akpo, L'Essentiel Est Invisible Pour Les Yeux, 2014, print on Baryta paper, 60 x 90cm, courtesy the artist
7. Lebohang Kganye, Pied Piper, Ke Lefa Laka, 2013, Printon Baryta paper, 64 x 90cm, courtesy of the artist and Afronova Gallery
8. Maimouna Guerresi, Trone in Black, 2016, Lambda print, 200 x 125cm, Fondation Alliances Collection, courtesy of the artist and Mariane Ibrahim Gallery
9. Maimouna Guerresi, Trone in White, 2016, Lambda print, 200 x 125cm, Fondation Alliances Collection, courtesy of the artist and Mariane Ibrahim Gallery
10. Nicola Lo Calzo, Portrait de David Godonou-Dossou, riche marchand et fondateur de la dinastieGodonou-Dossou, 2011, printon Baryta paper, 50 x 50cm, courtesy the artist, L’agence de Paris and Dominique Fiat
11. Ayana V. Jackson, Sarah Forbes, Dear Sarah, 2016, archival pigment print on German etching, 130 x 76cm, courtesy Mariane Ibrahim Gallery
12 - 13. Hicham Benohoud, Untitled, La Salle de Classe,1994-2002, silver photography on Baryta paper, 50 x 60cm, courtesy the artist
14. Namsa Leuba, Statuette Kafigeledio Prince, 2011, print on Baryta paper, 35 x 28.8cm with a white margin of 7.5cm, courtesy the artist
15. Namsa Leuba, Statuette Nganga Sale Laye, 2011, print on Baryta paper, 35 x 28.8cm with a white margin of 7.5cm, courtesy the artist
16. Nyaba Léon Ouedraogo, Le mystère de l'invisible, Les phantomsdu fleuvre Congo, 2011-2013, printon Baryta paper, 90 x 60cm, courtesy the artist
17. NyabaLéon Ouedraogo, Work, Les phantoms du fleuvre Congo, 2011-2013, printon Baryta paper, 90 x 60cm, courtesy the artist
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