Contemporary African Art Since 1980
Okwui Enwezor’s Contemporary African Art Since 1980 assesses thirty years of contemporary art-making on the African continent. Enwezor positions African art as classified by a period of time more than any thematic or stylistic links. He does acknowledge how the sociopolitical conditions brought upon by colonialism, emancipation and a conflation with cultures’ traditional means of art-making have impacted the way in which art across the continent has been created and received. The representation of black South African artists is few and far between, and there are only two black female artists from the country. Thus, despite acknowledging that contemporary African art has its own unique traits separate from the all-consuming west, Enwezor does little to prove that the subaltern has a voice.
Western civilizations in contemporary society have the capacity to reconfigure and remap the cultural, political and economic structures of the world (Enwezor, 2009: 10). The literal definition of contemporary as per the dictionary, is an event of the present, or that which occurs or belongs to the present (Enwezor, 2009: 12). As per Enwezor (2009: 12), contemporary, when applied to art, does not separate eras of time but rather artistic genres. He further claims that contemporary art “[goes] towards a post-historical paradigm where traditional styles no longer designate the aesthetic coordinates of artistic production,” (Enwezor, 2009: 12). Despite this, Enwezor firmly states that one cannot dub African art contemporary, as such a label boxes these artists in such a way as to cut off the “timeless” assumptions of their work (2009: 13). Contemporary African artists do not actively aim to place their work between labels such as modern and traditional (Enwezor, 2009: 13). In Africa, colonialism encounters traditional styles and contemporary paradigms simultaneously. One reflects a connection to the past, while the other establishes a separation from the past (Enwezor, 2009: 12). He further elaborates on the genre of contemporary art with the theories of two scholars: Terry Smith states contemporary art is preoccupied with being in its time and is concerned with temporality and Arthur Danto states contemporary art, in its fluctuating state of timelessness, is post-historical and a break from the progression of historical periods bound to style (Enwezor, 2009: 12). The theorists agree that contemporary African art ends at the cessation of a colonial era and presents a ‘postcolonial’ condition (Enwezor, 2009: 12). Thus, there is no need to seek out the long-dead remains of an indigenous culture, as African artists have evolved their work in such a way as to merge tradition with modernity (Enwezor, 2009: 13). Enwezor argues that such tensions between and culture exhibit how tradition has a forward motion towards a dynamic future (2009: 13). Yet the west remains reluctant to see Africa as part of the modern world – these artists, working under contemporary conditions, are essentialized for their merging of these two styles.
There are no common traits that link the contemporary artworks featured in this survey (2009: 26). The survey reflects art is “spatially contiguous” – works were made with the same time span (Enwezor, 2009: 26). Africa’s traditional art has been limited to a temporal frame within the boundaries of postcolonialism (Enwezor, 2009: 13). This is evident in the political, aesthetic and cultural connections in the artworks. However, Anne McClintock (1992: 85) argues that the term “postcolonial” is haunted by the idea of linear development. This is problematic, as it suggests that colonialism is a determining marker of history and the political differences between cultures are subordinated to their difference from western colonialism. McClintock further questions the way in which the term is monolithic in how it is centered around a binary axis of time rather than power – there is no single “postcolonialism”, as each country evolved differently (McClintock, 1992: 86). Despite McClintock’s criticism of the afore mentioned terminology, Enwezor acknowledges that art scholars see contemporary African art as a spur for historical analysis that does not align with borders or hierarchies (Enwezor, 2009: 11). Enwezor notes that, while contemporary art is temporary-specific to a post-1980s era, sociopolitical events since that period have had profound effects on its development (Enwezor, 2009: 11). Encounters with western modernism spurred debates and discourse (Enwezor, 2009: 18). Wole Soyinka’s theory of “Negritude” specifically constructed a formidable discourse about the remembrance of an African past, as well as a rejection of the essentialist predisposition towards race (Enwezor, 2009: 18). Thus, to an extent, African contemporary art was not shaped by an encounter with a traditional past, but rather by present conditions of discrimination and crisis. The means by which present-day’s African artists work differ in terms of origin, structure, and translation (Enwezor, 2009: 23).
Thus, is it evident that the global stylistic elements of contemporary art are primarily seen through a western lens. Spivak comments on the criticisms the west has received for its incessant attempts to be conserved as a Subject (1990: 66). History is typically narrated from a western perspective, in which they are made to seem superior. However, unlike African art, western art did not emerge from a succession of historical styles, nor is it a reaction to an oppressive system of rule (Enwezor, 2009: 20). EH Gombrich points out that African art exists outside of time, while western artists are framed in historical present (Enwezor, 2009: 20). In Primitivism: 20th Century Art, which was on display in New York in 1984, African tribal sculptures were on display without an artist mentioned. The artists were left anonymous in this exhibition and it reflects the sudden turn in postcolonial African art, and how the west regards African art as a failure to be modern in relation to itself (Enwezor, 2009: 20).
Art is an expression of identity (2009: 20), and does so “without making appellations of ethnic origin essential to the term [‘African Art’]” (2009: 12). The South African artists most frequently referred to in the survey are Marlene Dumas, Jane Alexander, William Kentridge, and Penny Siopis (Enwezor, 2009: 25). Of these artists, three are women but none are black. The faults here are best explained through Spivak’s consideration of power, desire and interest. Spivak first claims that “Desire does not lack anything… does not lack its object,” (1992: 68), suggesting that desire and the object are in unity, and that there is no fixed subject “except by repression,” (Spivak, 1992: 68). She defines “subject” regarding the works of theorists Foucault and Deleuze, who name two anonymous subjects: the Maoist and the workers (Spivak, 1992: 67). It is vital to note that the intellectuals are named in their works – it is merely society’s “Others” who are left as undistinguished groups. The subject is ushered in by those in power (Spivak, 1992: 69) and “produces positive effects on the level of desire.” The link to the workers’ struggle is the desire for those in power to remain in power (1992: 67), and they will not desire against their interests. Spivak then says that by not addressing the relationship between power, desire and subjectivity, there is no theory of interests.
One of two black female South African artists included in the survey is Nandipha Mntambo, whose works examine complex sociopolitical conditions and comment on politics – both of the country, and of the body (Enwezor, 2009: 49). Mntambo focuses specifically on uncomfortable sights, such as The Fighters (Figure C), in which the figures face each other, and the viewer is forced to step between them to see the artwork properly (McIntosh, 2008). The hybrid figures expose the limits of human rationality. Jane Alexander’s anthropomorphic animals (Figure B) attempt to reflect a state of brutish chaos. The dates of these artworks are particularly important: Alexander’s 1986 piece shows her alignment with a desire seemingly against her interest – bearing in mind she is a white at the height of apartheid. However, her subjects are brutish men, which could reflect on the very nature of oppression in South Africa – which had been defined along the binary of oppressor and oppressed, typically in terms of race (Deyi, 2013). The rise of Steve Biko’s Black Consciousness Movement radicalized the works of South African artists (Enwezor, 2009: 33). Black artists worked in the traditions of illustrative realism – dubbed “Township Art” – while white artists avoided direct confrontation with sociopolitical issues (Enwezor, 2009: 33). By the 80s, however, black women were tired of white women wanting to relate on the grounds of oppression by blaming the patriarchy, when those very women were the individuals oppressing black men (Maart, 2013). To these white feminists, their race was something that they were only made aware of when someone pointed it out.
Mntambo’s work was made post-apartheid. If one considers this in terms of Spivak’s analysis of the power-desire-subjectivity dynamic, the viewer must analyze what the work does not say. The curator perhaps views this political piece as a scholarly source. He is only one receiver out of many (Spivak, 1992: 82), and he may not be the intended receiver of the message. As he views the work academically as opposed to emotively, the viewer must suspend the appeal to his consciousness, so that he does not force his own interpretation upon the work. Postcolonial intellectuals thus learn that their privilege is their loss. In this, they are the paradigm of intellectuals.
Regarding representation, Spivak argues that there are two variations of the term (Spivak, 1992: 70), which are related but distinct. Representation is used in political settings in which those in power ‘speak for’ the subaltern (Spivak, 1992: 70). In such a case, the subject is not seen as a representative consciousness. The term re-presentation refers to art and philosophy, where the subject is merely represented through a signifier (Spivak, 1992: 70). Spivak criticizes these variations, however, as when those in power attempt to represent the subalterns, they only show themselves as transparent (Spivak, 1992: 70). The distinctions between representation and re-presentation fall away. We must now question whether those who act and struggle are mute, as opposed to those who act and speak (Spivak, 1992: 70).
Zanele Muholi is described as “a visual activist” (Stevenson, 2006). She is an active feminist and help found the Forum for Empowerment of Women in 2002. Muholi (Enwezor, 2009: 47) views the body as a means of difference in identity politics. She does so by exposing different types of identities with embodied and disembodied figure, and her work demands critical reflections about ideas sacredness and profanity in relation to gender and race. Her photography documents the conditions of the LGBTIQ* community in South Africa in everyday contexts (Enwezor, 2009: 47), and in doing so exposes cultural disapproval. Further identity politics are explored in her work to comment on the complex nature of identities – our relationship with our own identity, and our identity’s relationship with society. Gender and sexuality are used in art as vehicles of subjectivities and resistance to devices of social limitation (Enwezor, 2009: 47). Nakedness is linked to vulnerability, thereby engaging directly with the politics of the gendered and racialized body. Her work thus attaches itself to the consciousness of viewers – she asserts herself as a dominant speaker, credible witness and intellectual agent of morality (Pheko, 2013), speaking on behalf of her race and her gender.
Artists such as Nonstikelelo Veleko were not featured in the survey. Veleko is a South African photographer who explores black identity in the context of urbanisation and fashion in post-apartheid South Africa (Afrinova). Despite her exclusion from the 2009 survey, Veleko was featured in another exhibition of Enwezor’s: Snap Judgments: New Positions in Contemporary African Photography. The exhibition was displayed in America in 2006 and it was stated that “South Africa looks very different [to the west] after this exhibit,” (Stevens, 2006). Veleko’s subject matter (Figure A) consists of clothing employed ‘to deliberately challenge assumptions of identity based on appearances and historical background’ (Afrinova). One of the many common traits shared between Veleko, Muholi and Mntambo is that their artworks comment on a state of affairs within the country: not only in their subject matter, but in their very presence (or lack thereof). Artworks are a means of visual speech used to comment on sociopolitical issues (Enwezor, 2009: 30), and Mahou Pheko regards literacy as “more than being able to read and write,” (2013), further stating that literacy is a means of communication which enables people. Simon Njami also comments on the nature of African voices, saying “voice is privilege – creativity does not speak,” (2001: 15) about the lack of representation by African artists in the global art world. The fact that only two black female artists were featured in the survey thus becomes a microcosmic representation of South Africa. “Voice is privilege,” and there is no denying where the privilege lies.
Contemporary African art is dubbed so for the time in which it was created, as opposed to any thematic or stylistic specifications. The development of contemporary art in the continent was spurred on by colonialism and was further kindled in postcolonial times, in which artists are mediators to the public. Despite this, the representation of black female artists from South Africa is lacking. Art is a means by which individuals can speak and is considered a privilege – the lack of which reflects on the lack of progress that South Africa has made.
Figures:
Figure A. Nonstikelelo “Lolo” Veleko, Nonkululeko, 2004, photography, The International Center of Photography.
Figure B. Jane Alexander, Butcher Boys, 1986, mixed media.
Figure C. Nandipha Mntambo, The Fighters, 2006, cowhide, resin, polyester mesh, waxed cord, dimensions variable
Work Cited:
Bhabha, Homi K. 1994. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge. (Main Library PN 761 BHA)
Deyi, Busisiwe. "The Role of Black Consciousness in Redefining Contemporary Black Masculinity." Franktalk, 2013, http://www.sbffranktalk.blogspot.com.
Enwezor, O. & Okeke-Agulu, C., 2009. Contemporary African Art Since 1980. Bologna: Grafiche Damiani. (Main Library N 7391.65 ENW)
Kouwenhoven, Bill. "Snap Judgements: New Positions In Contemporary African Photography - FOTO8." FOTO8, 2007, http://www.foto8.com/live/snap-judgements-new-positions-in-contemporary-african-photography/.
Maart, Rozenna. "Black Consciousness and Feminism." Franktalk, 2013, http://www.sbffranktalk.blogspot.com.
McClintock, Anne. 1992. The Angel of Progress: Pitfalls of the Term “Post-colonialism”. Social Text 31/32, pp.84-98.
McIntosh, Tavish. "Nandipha Mntambo." Artthrob.Co.Za, 2008, http://artthrob.co.za/08sept/artbio.html.
"Nontsikelelo Veleko." Afronova.Com, http://www.afronova.com/artists/nontsikelelo-veleko-2/.
Njami, Simon. N. D. Chaos and Metamorphosis. Ireland: Gail de Coursey.
Said, Edward. 2001. Power, Politics, and Culture: Interviews with Edward W. Said. New York: Pantheon Books. (Main Library PN 98.P64 SAI)
Pheko, Mahou. "Black Consciousness: A Mind Of One's Own." Franktalk, 2013, http://www.sbffranktalk.blogspot.com.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. 1990. The Post-Colonial Critic: Interviews, Strategies, Dialogues. London: Routledge. (Main Library HN 27 SPI)
Stevens, Mark. "What Does Africa Look Like?." Nymag.Com, 2006, http://nymag.com/arts/art/reviews/16566/.
"Zanele Muholi." Stevenson, 2006, http://www.stevenson.info/artist/zanele-muholi/biography.