For the After the Missionaries issue of Artlink, a number of artists responded to the hypothetical scenario where a local council was seeking proposals for developing a project with its sister city in the Third World. How might a project bridge the global divide?
Claudio Torres is a Chilean artist/architect/musician who for the last four [...]
Posts under ‘Africa’
Public Competition For a Painted Mural on a Rented Ghetto Wall
Gelede masks from Benin: how to appease powerful women
Benin is a West African country with a strong craft tradition. In the past, craft guilds specialising in brass, ivory, wood, embroidery and leather resided in palace of the Oba (king). They mingled with the leopard hunters, astrologers, drummers, chiefs and priests. Unlike other courtly crafts in Africa, their traditions thrive, particularly in the [...]
Hlengiwe Dube – tin top buttons with Zulu style
Hlengiwe Dube is a craftswoman and manager of the African Art Centre. In 2000, she was awarded the Woman of the Year award by the Department of Arts and Culture. As well as her own work, she has played a critical role in developing crafters in the area, particularly in beaded products. Dube has [...]
Rwandan grass meets German silver
The range of jewellery made by Martina Dempf in collaboration with basket weavers from Rwanda shows an intriguing combination of cultures. The vibrant designs and fine weaving of African grass is housed within elegantly crafted European silver. How did this collaboration come about?
Martina Dempf is a jeweller based in Berlin. She studied jewellery at Pforzheim [...]
True to self or play the market? – the South African challenge
In response to the recent South African election, the director of Cape Craft & Design, Erica Elk, penned these thoughts as part of their newsletter’s editorial. While focused on the South African situation, they could apply more broadly to all ventures that attempt to bring the market to play in assisting cultural development.
She reflects on [...]
An Africa of Small Things
The jewellery scene in South Africa has kept a very low profile. Perhaps here’s why.
Three jewellers from Johannesburg have an exhibition at Bell Roberts Gallery titled Tales from the Mantelpiece. Philippe Bousquet, originally an architect, works with family identity as a link between vintage objects. Geraldine Fenn, with a background in archeology and art history, [...]
Let the beads do the talking
Hlengiwe Dube is not only one of South Africa’s most accomplished bead artists, she is also responsible for much of the vibrant craft that emerges from KwaZulu-Natal, thanks to her work with the African Craft Centre. Finally, she has been able to distil her considerable knowledge of beadwork with this new publication. Zulu Beadwork: Talk [...]
Mapfara finds a clay embrace
The visiting Mozambican ceramicist Mapfara emerged last night for the opening of his first exhibition in Melbourne. Mapfara had been here on a Commonwealth Fellowship and had managed to settle himself in a foreign city, with a foreign language and make work in a little over three months – largely thanks to an indefatigable openness [...]
Island designs from Mozambique
More from Amanda Youngleson’s design intervention on Ilha de Mozambique (Mozambique island).
The pictures also show how this world heritage site is being left to decay, although there are some beautifully renovated buildings.
It was the original Portuguese capital of Mozambique, and before that an Arab trading station.
