Joseph Alufa Igbinovia is not a celebrity, who will glide through crowds of tourists and local revelers astride an elaborate float of the Edo regalia. He is one of the artists who will rather concentrate on their work than make noise about.
Njideka Akunyili-Crosby’s I Refuse to Be Invisible (2013). PHOTO: Courtesy of the artist
Though women in the arts have suffered under-representation and been written out of the history books, some are demystifying the art space, which is helping them to make the desired statement. One of such female artists is Njideka Akunyili-Crosby.
Akunyili-Crosby is exploding the myth of ‘authentic African experience’. Her art “negotiates the cultural terrain between her adopted home in America and her native Nigeria, creating collage and photo transfer-based paintings that expose the challenges of occupying these two worlds”.
Akunyili-Crosby mixes the classic academic western technique with her personal life, Nigerian and American culture and African traditions. She composes scenes from her everyday life between two countries, using western elements like portra
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South South Veza looms. For this South South’s inaugural event, kó features a solo presentation by Peju Alatise, one of Africa’s leading female contemporary artists. Through the event, South South (a gallery-led online community, anthology, live resource and aggregator dedicated to art from the so-called Global South and its diaspora) hosts over 50 other galleries “from more than 40 cities spread across 30 countries and five continents” from Tuesday, February 23 to Sunday, March 7.
At kó’s formal launch on Friday, September 25, its visionary founder Kavita Chellaram – hitherto renowned in the Lagos art circles for her trailblazing auction house Arthouse Contemporary and its satellite projects (Arthouse -The Space and Arthouse Foundation) – enthused about her creating “a separate and unique gallery entity”.