Many Columbia students may not realize that the closest museum to Columbia’s campus is only a short walk away. The Studio Museum in Harlem, located on 125th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues, was founded in the ’60s as the first museum in the United States specializing in African-American art. Their current exhibition, “Flow,” showcases the work of 20 emerging African artists, many of whom are new to American audiences.
“Africa is often illustrated in mass media and popular culture through images of warfare, disease and poverty, as well as through celebrities who travel there and philanthropic efforts,” reads the information placard describing the exhibition. While poverty and conflict do remain in the background of much of the artwork displayed, the artists have definitely succeeded in revealing a very different image of Africa than that disseminated by the likes of Jeffrey Sachs and Angelina Jolie. Here, the viewer is able to see an Africa through a creative lens that illuminates aspects of African culture and identity often ignored by mass media.
Some of the artists on display have chosen to focus on the global nature of contemporary African life. The young South African photographer Nontsikelelo “Lolo” Veleko was inspired by Shoichi Aoki’s famous photographs of Tokyo street fashion to create a similar series in “Jozi,” as locals affectionately call Johannesburg. The fashion-conscious subjects of Veleko’s photographs all look directly into the camera, as if challenging the viewer’s perspective of global urban culture.
“Flow” features artwork from a variety of media—including the traditional forms of photography, painting, and sculpture—but many of the most striking pieces use more modern media such as video installations. There are a number of videos by Michele Magema, who was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and lives and works in Paris. In her video “Overseas Stories,” a woman dressed in white walks down a road arranging white flowers in a path behind her, while the people around pay no attention to her actions. The flowers are intended to resemble the fleur-de-lis, the French emblem that has historically symbolized colonialism and oppression for many Africans.
In Grace Ndiritu’s Desert Storm, a naked woman writhes behind a thin cloth, staring at the camera. She lies on top of a map of the world as a list of countries where rape has been committed during conflict runs across the bottom of the screen. West African music accompanies the video, making her body’s movement seem rhythmic and beautiful, reminding the viewer of the rich cultures that have been overshadowed by decades of violence. The list of countries does not just include African nations, emphasizing the fact that rape is a universal form of assault and therefore a global issue that each viewer must confront.
While some of the artworks displayed are difficult to digest because of their heavy subject matter , the heavy abstraction of others makes them hard to grasp. In one room, the corner of the wall is painted light blue. If not for the label underneath, it would be very easy to overlook the fact that this square of paint is a piece of art . The title of Dawit L. Petros’ piece is Untitled (Synthesis of an arbitrary sampling of blues and whites derived from the sky, salt and snow from photographs of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, Churchill, Canada and Badwater, California).
While the abstraction of some of the artwork may challenge the artistic sensibility of some viewers, their positioning alongside more intricate works enables the exhibit to truly achieve its aim of providing an overview of contemporary African art. While some artists choose to engage Africa’s political, social, and economic issues directly, others choose to place these issues in the background or to present a creative vision devoid of them—allowing the viewer to experience a vital and fresh look at Africa, very different from the images we see on TV.