30r364 boek.qxd:awards book 11 - Prince Claus Fund

More documents

Recommendations

Info

The Desired Sense of Parityby Mark SealyEarly photography in the hands of the European colonial officer, American plantation owner,scientist, artist or would-be adventurer was employed to propagate an imagined constructionof the African subject. The resultant images emphasised the message that Africans were thechildhood of mankind: primitive, exotically simple, barbaric, uncivilised, in urgent need of beingbrought out of the dark, and ideal objects of study for those interested in how humanity seeminglyonce was. Along with this portrayal of being ‘primitive’, African subjects wherever they weresituated, be it on plantations across the Caribbean, throughout the Americas or caught incolonised territories in Africa, were predominantly rendered naturally suitable to a condition ofservitude. Africa was not just colonised physically – visually it became the subject of westernmyth and fantasy. Within Europe, Africa functioned as a dark rumour in which a myriad of fantasticstories could be told or imagined. The outcome of these myths and rumours was violent scrutiny,ultimate humiliation and totalitarian control. Within the European visual plane, photography didnot describe the ‘other’: it constructed it. Photography turned Africa into a static theatre thathid western excess. Through photography, the colonial master was able to construct a visualnarrative that enabled the colonial to see only what was required and believed in, rather thanwhat was real and what was being destroyed. The application of photography by Europeans inAfrica aided the political exercise of cultural negation and forced assimilation.When we look at James Iroha Uchechukwu’s photographs it’s important that we view thework in the context of Time and Distance. The 1991 exhibition titled ‘Africa Explores: 20th CenturyAfrican Art’, held in New York, hinted at the fact that photography was alive and doing wellthroughout the continent. Since then there has been a slow but sure recognition of indigenousAfrican photographers who are dedicated to producing images that configure the Africansubject in the now.Within Uchechukwu’s work there is a pressing sense of wanting to address the contemporary.His group studies of butchers, athletes, and soft-drink hawkers address the acute conditionof toil, aspiration, struggle and achievement. All the subjects framed present a common threadof pride and resilience. His photographs disrupt the very idea of a mythical African subject. Theybuild on the concept of a critical platform rather than simply images for display or contemp lation.They force an engagement beyond the aesthetic and open up dialogues relating to the keyquestion of authority and visual power: who’s looking at who and why. His work forms part of agrowing critical body of images being produced by indigenous African photographers both northand south of the Sahara. This indigenous critical voice within contemporary African photographyis its most exciting element. Festivals such as the ‘Rencontres africaines de la Photographie’in Mali are testament to this vibrancy. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the creativesurge of images being produced by African artists. There is a collective sense of visual reclaimingat work throughout Uchechukwu’s photographs, also evident in the work he produced whilstworking within the Depth of Field collective.This indigenous African discourse is swelling. It’s saturated with difference and demandsnew intellectual work from the viewer/reader. The terrain of interpretation across the historyof photography is a highly contested space and Uchechukwu’s photographs function like hotmolecules across the body politic of photographic institutions that regurgitate the same oldcanon and are fixated on displaying representations of the African subject that carry the grainof racism. The history of photography is marked by its anthropological leanings.1002008 <strong>Prince</strong> <strong>Claus</strong> Awards
Photographs at a slaughterhouse in Southern Nigeria,from the series 'Fire Flesh and Blood', 2004Photos © James Iroha UchechukwuCulture and the Human Body 101
Page 1 and 2:
Prince Claus Fund forCulture and De
Page 3:
2008 PrinceClaus AwardsPrix PrinceC
Page 6:
Forewordby HRHPrince FrisoandHRH Pr
Page 9 and 10:
The 2008 Prince Claus Laureates rem
Page 11:
92 Elia SuleimanLike Nazareth or Ra
Page 14 and 15:
IntroductionThrough its diverse pro
Page 17 and 18:
From the series ‘Road to National
Page 21:
and innovation, to appreciate audac
Page 24 and 25:
2008 Theme: Culture and the Human B
Page 27 and 28:
‘Dadawa concert’, costume desig
Page 30 and 31:
IndiraGoswamiPortrait of Indira Gos
Page 32 and 33:
Writer, Woman, Activistby Supriya C
Page 34 and 35:
Religion, especially the practices
Page 36 and 37:
Extract 1 from The Moth-Eaten Howda
Page 38 and 39:
Extract 2 from The Moth-Eaten Howda
Page 40 and 41:
LoveWhen my beloved diedI felt as i
Page 42:
Ten 2008Prince ClausAwards
Page 45 and 46:
Tania BrugueraCubaUsing the human b
Page 47 and 48:
‘Poetic Justice’ by Tania Brugu
Page 49 and 50: Images from a performance of ‘The
Page 51 and 52: Carlos Henríquez ConsalviEl Salvad
Page 53 and 54: Indigenous People Rights activity i
Page 55 and 56: Carlos Henríquez Consalvi, alias
Page 57 and 58: Li XiantingChinaCurator and critic,
Page 59 and 60: Li Xianting at an exhibitionPhoto:
Page 61 and 62: Portrait of Li XiantingPhoto: court
Page 63 and 64: Ma KeChinaA bold voice in contempor
Page 65: From the collection ‘WUYONG, the
Page 68 and 69: VenerablePurevbatLama Purevbat plac
Page 70 and 71: Master Artist of Mongolia’s Moder
Page 72 and 73: of the sacred image is never determ
Page 74 and 75: JeanguySaintusPortrait of Jeanguy S
Page 76 and 77: Passion, Courage and Perseveranceby
Page 78 and 79: the Artcho Danse school. This is ve
Page 80 and 81: DayanitaSinghPortrait of Dayanita S
Page 82 and 83: Through the Cracks of a Mirrorby Sh
Page 84 and 85: ‘Untitled’ from the series 'Go
Page 86 and 87: OusmaneSowOusmane Sow with one of h
Page 88 and 89: Exposing the Limitations of Categor
Page 91 and 92: Ousmane Sow in his workshopin Dakar
Page 93 and 94: Elia SuleimanPalestineBorn into a P
Page 95 and 96: Elia Suleiman at workPhoto © Marce
Page 97 and 98: Elia Suleiman at workPhoto © Marce
Page 99: James Iroha UchechukwuNigeriaJames
Page 103 and 104: ‘Vaseline Beads’Photo © James
Page 106 and 107: An OverviewThe Prince Claus Fund is
Page 108 and 109: Artistic ProductionsInnovative cult
Page 110 and 111: One of the fashion shows at Alokpa
Page 112 and 113: Capoeira action in the roda in Sout
Page 114 and 115: Provoking the audience on the stree
Page 116 and 117: Stage on Redondo Beach, PeruPhoto
Page 118 and 119: 118 2008 Prince Claus AwardsFilm st
Page 120 and 121: Essam Marouf, ‘Untitled’, 2007,
Page 122 and 123: ‘Buddhist Religious Representatio
Page 124 and 125: Metis participants at the XVII Inte
Page 126 and 127: Poster for a performance in Burkina
Page 128 and 129: Rajanikara Leng Kaewdee in ‘Spiri
Page 130 and 131: Damage to cultural heritage at the
Page 132 and 133: ‘Hidden Afghanistan: The Collecti
Page 134 and 135: Contributing AuthorsShahidul Alam i
Page 136 and 137: Els van der Plas, art historian and
Page 138 and 139: The 2008 Prince ClausAwards Committ
Page 140 and 141: Rahul Mehrotra studied at Ahmedabad
Page 142 and 143: Laureates of the Prince Claus Fund
Page 144 and 145: The 1998 Prince Claus AwardsThe Pri
Page 146 and 147: Faustin Linyekula, the 2007 Princip
Page 148 and 149: AcknowledgementsThe Prince Claus Fu
Page 150 and 151:
The Prince Claus FundThe Board of t
Page 152:
Published and produced by the Princ
show all

30r364 boek.qxd:awards book 11 - Prince Claus Fund

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?