ART-PRESENTATION: Lucy’s Iris-Contemporary African Women Artists
The Australopithecus Afarensis, generally known as Lucy was discovered by a team of anthropologists led by Donald Johanson and Tom Gray in 1974, in Ethiopia. Lucy owes its name to the incidental fact that, apparently, at the time of its discovery the famous song of The Beatles “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”. The anthropologists could have found thousands names of important African women, but they decided to call her Lucy, which exposes, once again, the arrogance of the Western gaze, unable to embrace the historical and cultural references of the rich spaces that the West has occupied and investigated.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Musée départemental d’art contemporain de Rochechouart Archive
The exhibition “Lucy’s Iris: Contemporary African Women Artists” take this fact of historical theft as a departure point to propose the project, which symbolically returns to Lucy, the grandmother of mankind, her own gaze through the eyes of a selection of major African Contemporary artists. The exhibition tries to explore and show different spheres of African contemporary creation through the selection of works and proposals of a score of creators who both live and create in Africa and in the diaspora. Through their diversity, we can understand complex and varied facets of that different cultural space, Africa. All of these artists play an active role in the current artistic and cultural scene, both in Africa and in the international arena, understanding the latter in its most universal sense. Participating Artists: Jane Alexander, Ghada Amer, Berry Bickle, Zoulikha Bouabdellah, Loulou Cherinet, Safaa Erruas, Pelagie Gbaguidi, Bouchra Khalili, Amal Kenawy, Kapwani Kiwanga, Nicene Kossentini, Mwangi Hutter, Michele Magema, Fatima Mazmouz, Julie Mehretu, Myriam Mihindou, Aida Muluneh, Wangechi Mutu, Otobong Nkanga, Tracey Rose, Berni Searle, Zineb Sedira, Sue Williamson, Billie Zangewa and Amina Zoubir. The exhibition comes at a time when African art and artists become to be better known around the world and the question of feminism and female African artists is now quite rightly being raised ever more insistently. Hence the present selection of highly individual artists for whom the label “African Contemporary Art” may be only part of their identity. Their origins and workplaces certainly range from Maghreb to South Africa as well as across the African diaspora and their work is just as varied, covering painting, drawing, photography and sculpture alongside video, performance, tapestry and installations. Whilst reflecting diverse cultural and artistic contexts certain themes often recur such as identity, body, environment, historical legacy, memory, post-colonialism, migration, the past and the future. Under the gaze of Lucy’s eyes, we can observe how each artist makes space for her own personal vision in this heady mix of politics and poetry from out of Africa.
Info: Musée départemental d’art contemporain de Rochechouart, Place du château, Rochechouart, Duration: 8/7-15/12/16, Days & Hours: 1/3-30/9 Wed-Mon 10:00-12:30 & 13:30-18:00, 1/10-15/12 Wed-Mon 10:00-12:30 & 14:00-17:00, www.musee-rochechouart.com
