Eto Otigtibe, Ascension or Dude Ascending Staircase, 2011
To celebrate these journeys across time and space, the Bronx Council on the Arts and Longwood Art Gallery presents Bronx:Africa at Hostos Community College on view now through May 4, 2016. The exhibition is a multi-disciplinary exploration of art through the many peoples of the diaspora who now call the Boogie Down their home.
Conceived as a showcase that brings together visual art, culture, and community, Bronx:Africa features an art exhibition as well as a series of events that embrace both the challenges and the victories of contemporary life, offering an engaging conversation about the complexities facing peoples of African descent today. Conceived by Atim Annette Oton, curator of public programming, these events have been designed to offer a diverse yet inclusive array of voices and perspectives on subjects including African fashion, textiles, hair, food, spirituality and death, immigration, and identity.
Elvira Clayton, Diko, 2015 (Detail of sculpture)
The exhibition, curated by LeRonn P. Brooks, offers a compelling counterpoint to these conversations, showing Africa through the eyes of its own and reflecting it back to viewers. Bronx:Africa features work by Laylah Barrayn (Senegal), Janet Goldner (Mali), Howard T. Cash (West Africa) and Osaretin Ugiagbe (Nigeria), among many others. On March 2, these artists will give a gallery talk, moderated by Ms. Oton, discussing their work on two continents.
Bronx:Africa also delves into the power of the word, with poetry town hall on April 22, featuring a reading by Ghanaian-born Rachel Ansong. She will joined by Gambian-born Muhamadou Salieu Suso, a musician/historian who will perform on the traditional stringed kora. This is the first in a new series of six upcoming poetry town halls supported by the New York Council for the Humanities.
Howard T. Cash, President Shehu Shagari Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, 1983
By providing a showcase for the art, expressions and influences of African cultures, and their impact as nationals mix and infuse, Bronx:Africa offers people an opportunity to learn more. In the words of Muammar Gaddafi, “Americans are good people. They have no aggression against us and they like us as we like them. They must know I don’t hate them. I love them.… I hear it is a complex society inside. Many Americans don’t know about the outside world.”
By centering Bronx:Africa in the heart of the South Bronx, the exhibition speaks directly to the people of the community. Deirdre Scott, BCA Executive Director, observes, “Like all other immigrants to this country, we come with our culture: our food, our dress/clothing, our hair, our music, our film, our language and our religion. We add to the fabric of America and it adds to us as we transform from African to American. Like all others,” she continues, “we become the hyphenated American in our identities—I am Nigerian-American. Bronx:Africa is about that mix – the intermingling and transformation of cultures especially evident in a city as dynamic as New York. Our borough is home to many immigrant cultures – this is our life, our story, and Bronx:Africa is ultimately an American story.”
Miss Rosen is a New York-based writer, curator, and brand strategist. There is nothing she adores so much as photography and books. A small part of her wishes she had a proper library, like in the game of Clue. Then she could blaze and write soliloquies to her in and out of print loves.
