JANUARY 3 - 9, 2013 T H E V O I C E | 37
36 | T H E V O I C E JANUARY 3 - 9, 2013
!
www.voice-online.co.uk w
voicenewspaper
Arts
@thevoicenews
Free activities and events
Compiled by Janet Browne Programme Manager Black Heritage & Culture, V&A
T
HE V&A acknowledges that its significant collection of over 4,000 Africa-related objects is of on-going interest to diverse audiences within the UK and abroad. For more than 10 years the V&A has been exploring African narratives and interpretation, many developed through mutual partnerships and cultural collaborations to ensure authenticity across events, study days, displays and exhibitions; the celebration of festivals and anniversaries, commemoration of significant landmarks and honouring talented ancestors and modern Victory to the Freedom Fighters of South Africa, Rachael Romero, San Francisco Poster Brigade, 1977
“History, heritage, culture and legacy are significant factors in the museum’s determination to ensure continued public visibility of its Africa collection” day heroes and sheroes. History, heritage, culture and legacy are significant factors in the museum’s determination to ensure continued public visibility of its Africa collection, through new gallery interpretation, publications and webbased projects, this in addition to a long awaited dedicated
gallery space, which is presently under discussion. The V&A Africa Curators Group, formed in January 2009, is currently developing its strategy for collecting art and design of Africa and the Diaspora. The Group is overseeing 3 displays over a 3 year period to showcase African art
Tell us what you think. Email yourviews@gvmedia.co.uk
and design. The first and on display at the Museum until 3 February 2013 is V&A Africa – Exploring Hidden Histories, with 100 objects that date from 1850 to the present. Future displays will comprise of prints and drawings by indigenous Africans collected by the Museum over the last 45 years, and a later display that considers contemporary African design.
!
w www.voice-online.co.uk
voicenewspaper
@thevoicenews
Jacqueline Asafu-Adjaye Sponsored Features Editor
THE VISITOR GUIDE
All images courtesy of the ©V&A
UNVEILING AFRICA AT THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM
Arts
SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICA AND THE DIASPORA
A guide to Black Heritage objects in the V&A’s collection THIS GUIDE highlights 12 objects in the V&A’s collections that have relevance to Africa and the Diaspora. It gives details about the objects and where they can be seen in the museum, and includes personal
responses from leading heritage practitioners and cultural commentators that not only challenge European representations of Africa and black Africans in the past, but also our own perceptions and views today.
Why not visit the V&A and pick up your copy of the guide and explore the vast number of galleries to find representations of Africa within them?
With so much going on why not join us in celebrating Africa at the V&A with three exciting FREE activities including the display V&A Africa – Exploring Hidden Histories, the visitor guide Spotlight on Africa and the Diaspora and live public event Africa: Speed, Search, Sound on Friday 1 February 2013.
THE DISPLAY
V&A AFRICA – EXPLORING HIDDEN HISTORIES UNTIL 3 FEBRUARY 2013 THIS DISPLAY of around 100 objects from the V&A’s collections looks at the V&A’s engagement with and changing view of art and design from Africa since the earliest days of the Museum in the 1850s to the present. It is the first of a series of displays to highlight the V&A’s significant holdings of art and design from Africa, and the first time many of these objects will be shown. Exploring Hidden Histories reveals some of the stories which lie behind the acquisition of the V&A’s African objects which include jewellery, textiles and sculpture. The display is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, with additional support from the Arts and Humanities Research Council for research into African textiles. Traditional distinctions between ‘art’ and ‘ethnography’, and between North Africa and sub-Saharan regions, led to many African objects being represented only in anthropological collections in Britain. Where the V&A has collected sub-Saharan African objects it was because they demonstrated excellence in a particular material or technique. To highlight these historic distinctions between ‘art’ and ‘ethnography’, the display opens with 36 black and white photographs by Walker Evans commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art,
New York in 1935 to document its first ever exhibition of African art. Some are framed as fine art photographs and others are shown as they originally appeared bearing ethnographic labels detailing the object type and place of origin. The V&A has an extensive collection of North African jewellery because culturally North Africa was viewed as part of the Middle East and its decorative arts were highly prized and actively col-
lected. A number of these pieces are shown alongside jewellery created in Ethiopia in the 19th-century and Asante gold ornaments from Ghana. The display reflects the growing interest in African art and culture of the 1950s and 60s as many African countries were gaining independence. Metalware, sculpture and textiles collected and toured to colleges and museums all over Britain during this period will be shown.
The Toy Seller, William Mulready, 1835
THE LIVE EVENT Ornament, Ghana, before 1874
Mikisi, Figure, Congo, 1900 - 1920
Mask, Ivory Coast, NY (City), Walker Evans, c. 1935
Bangle, Zanzibar, 19th Century
Theatre Costume, Peter Minshall, 1974
Contemporary African works including a film of excerpts from Athol Fugard's landmark play The Island (2000) and photographs by Zanele Muholi and Santu Mofokeng acquired in 2010 following the V&A’s exhibition of photographs by contemporary South African artists, will illustrate the Museum’s continuing commitment to representing and collecting art and design from Africa. The V&A does not have a gallery dedicated to African art and design, but there are many objects on display throughout the Museum that were either made in Africa or have a connection with Africa.
Africa: Speed, Search, Sound Friday 1 February, 18.30 – 21.30 SPEED DATE with historians and lay scholars about the objects they ‘love’. Go in search of hidden representations of Africa and collect a reward. Create re-cycled accessories from tin cans with artist Jackie Mwanza, learn a drum call and respond to it, and talk African textiles with PhD Research Fellow Nicola Stylianou. Join Zimbabwean DJ Dece (aka
Dumiso Gambe) in the Museum’s Grand Entrance, playing an original mash-up of world music and modern beats - mixing West African chants with hip hop and South African vocals with drum & bass. Finally enjoy live music with Thabani Nyoni and his band in the Café and hear pieces from his latest work ‘Ekaya’. Originally from
Bulawayo, Thabani combines sweet Southern African melodies with funk, jazz and chanted vocals in a lively and passionate way. Inspired by greats such as Fela Kuti, Thomas Mapfumo, Brenda Fassie and Youssou N’Dour, Thabani’s songs recall ancient African rituals and talk about love, friendship and betrayal. ! Jointly organized with Kaya Festival
Victoria and Albert Museum Cromwell Road London SW7 2RL Nearest stations: South Kensington and Knightsbridge Nearest buses: C1, 14, 414 and 74
Ancestral Figure, Walker Evans
THESE PAGES ARE SPONSORED BY THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM • WEBSITE: WWW.VAM.AC.UK