When I was in Brussels in July to do the research for my review of the Africa Museum, I couldn't believe my luck when I saw what was on show at the BOZAR: an exhibition of African art. What better way to counterbalance the vibes of the colonial collections with an 'Afrocentric' take on African art. This quote from the exhibition booklet sums up perfectly the idea behind the exhibition: "incarNations does not make us stare at the sculptures as Western ethnologists but places African masks onto our faces in order to physically experience the spiritual trip".
South African artist and curator Kendell Geers chose the contemporary artworks that were displayed from the extensive collection of Congolese businessman and art collector extraordinaire Sindika Dokolo. Dokolo says on his foundation’s website that “..art plays a decisive role in the liberation of peoples and minds” - and Senegalese philosopher Souleymane Bachir Diagne maintains that taking an ethnographic view only stresses otherness and strangeness and takes the artefacts out of their philosophical and spiritual context.
What we now consider classical African art has always had its roots in the belief systems and philosophies of the people that produced it. There are statues that are representations of ancestral figures, and masks that have ritualistic meanings and uses. These pieces were not conceived to express the makers’ emotions. In fact, the names of the ‘artists/makers’ are not known - they are indeed inconsequential. What is of importance is the role of the piece, its meaning and its use. Classical African art is about philosophy of a people, not expression of an individual.
What exists now, and what was on show in this exhibition, are several layers of African art. To start with, there are the classic, often very old, spiritual pieces that do fall into the ethnography category – as in ethnography fulfilling its role as an explanatory science. Then there are the pieces created by African artists in the fashion of these original statues and masks, which are devoid of ritualistic uses and are made and collected merely for their aesthetic attractiveness. Finally, there are the works of art that draw on the rich cultural heritage of the African continent, that are derived from and inspired by what came before, but are firmly rooted in the contemporary realm.
This last category is not, and in my opinion should not be, only the dominion of African artists. In fact, the influence of African art on European artists goes back to the early 1900s. It has given us milestone works in painting like ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’ by Picasso or ‘Blue Nude’ by Matisse.
Besides, the masterful abstraction employed by makers of African masks inspired artists like Modigliani and Brancusi and manifests itself clearly in the sculptures of these artists. More recently, as an example in the contemporary art world, there is the Spanish sculptor Miguel Barceló who found inspiration for his clay sculptures in West African pottery.
“incarNations” contained several more examples of Western artists taking their inspiration from African classical art. The most controversial of these artworks is probably Damien Hirst’s “Ife Head (Male)”. The original, famous Ife Heads are amazing 13th century bronze and clay sculptures of Yoruba kings that were discovered in the early 1900s in Nigeria, confirming the artistic finesse of classic African artists.
When Damien Hirst first exhibited his “Ife Heads” at the 2017 Venice Biennale, it caused quite a furore. Hirst was accused of cultural appropriation and omitting to give due credit to the source of his inspiration.
Yet here at “incarNations”, as Hirst’s bronze sat in a circle of original African masks - clearly labelled as a contemporary piece and so obviously drawing on classical African art for inspiration - it just added another facet to this intriguing whole that now presents itself to us as ‘African art’.
The amalgamation of classical and contemporary art was resolved brilliantly by curator Geers in this exhibition. Firstly, the layout was such that each theme was introduced by a classic piece, then juxtaposed with and/or complimented by contemporary pieces, often inspired by the ‘original’. A kind of leitmotif running through the exhibition was the iconic wallpaper, designed by Geers and inspired by symbols from the West African Ashanti tradition. It acted as a unifying backdrop as well as a guiding path through the different halls.
In addition, there were mirrors all around the artworks and inside display cases. The inspiration for this came from the minkisi sculptures which have mirrors on their stomach and/or eyes as doorways to the spirit world - quite a contrast to our current era of vanity and selfies, where mirrors are mostly there to reflect our own image. As the exhibition notes pointed out, when used in the context of displaying art, mirrors take on the additional role of including the viewer into the artwork and thereby giving him a chance to see the work from the inside out, just as the artist did when conceiving the piece.
For many people African art equals masks. Indeed, a substantial part of the exhibition was taken up by different types of masks. There were, for example, the renowned striated masks of the Songye people of the DRofCongo, and masks from Gabon coated with white kaolin clay which is used to evoke ancestral spirits. The latter are traditionally worn together with garments composed of foliage or cloth to perform a ritual dance on metres-high stilts.
The contemporary juxtaposition for the kaolin masks were fantastic photographic prints in white, red and black by Aida Muluneh, an Ethiopian artist, and Andres Serrano’s pigment print “Klansman”. American artist Nick Cave’s soundsuits were displayed as the modern equivalent to traditional African foliage garments – worn then, as now, with the purpose to conceal the identity of the wearer.
The last exhibit before the exit was the above mentioned display of classical masks surrounding Hirst’s bronze head. There the visitors were invited to look through one of the masks and taking it as a chance to look at the world with African eyes. An exercise of this kind should provide a perspective that might help to shed preconceived ‘Western’ ideas. It should also foster a deeper understanding of the dynamics and traditions, indeed, the philosophy behind the art that has been emerging from the African continent for centuries.
And we might begin to accept that Nicolosio’s map is not necessarily upside down.
As I have mentioned in my Facebook post announcing this blog post, African art has been in the news a lot lately. If you are interested to read more, here are some links to get you started on auctions and sales, exhibitions, emerging artists, contemporary African art and African museums.
You can also take a closer look at Dokolo's collection here.
I also suggest that you click through the picture gallery where you will find additional information on the artworks in the captions.