Spectre Of Memory In Contemporary African Art: Edinburgh Art Fesival

International Fri 23-07-2010

Spectre Of Memory In Contemporary African Art: Edinburgh Art Fesival
By Edcrossfineart.com

Kenya’s Richard Onyango can remember scenes from his childhood and the more recent past with almost perfect recall and then paint them in vivid detail. Aside from any innate gift of recollection, this practice stems from a conscious decision made as a child when, lacking a camera but inspired by its power, he resolved to use his own mind as a recording device.

The camera is the most obvious recorder of history, but in modern Zimbabwe photographers are more vulnerable to harassment than artists. Photography lacks the flexibility of painting, where all the components of a social phenomenon can be depicted.

Lovemore Kambudzi, Need for Peace Through Unity In Diversity, 2007, Courtesy Of A Private Collection, Photo: The artist

Lovemore Kambudzi has been evoking the realities of life in Harare for the last ten years. The (decidedly unofficial) equivalent of a western ‘war artist’, he has emerged as the principal recorder of his country’s fate.

Peterson Waweru Kamwathi’s work is mostly linked to moments in the history of his country, Kenya. These references may not be made explicit, but there is a sense in his work of recording history at an oblique angle. His work painstakingly records his country’s political aspirations and their realisation or subversion, and the grave consequences of political failure.

Soly Cisse is haunted by the happy memories of his childhood which seem to seep into almost every canvas he paints in the shape of wild animals that he hunted in his youth – the animals appearing now to flee from modernity rather than the artist’s youthful pursuit.

The Private View of this event is open to the public, August 5, 6-9pm. For more information visit: www.edinburghartfestival.com or www.edcrossfineart.com

Or contact +131 07507 067 567

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