AFRICAN ART IN THE HEART OF

NEW YORKFrom food, fashion and art to prized

museum collections and bold new cultural centres, the beat of Africa is being heard

loudly and clearly in New York City, writes Bridget Hilton-Barber

For use by louiseg@nationalpositions.com only. Distribution prohibited.

WHILE IT’S SNOWING OUTSIDE RIGHT NOW, THE

CENTRE’S FULL OF THE PROMISE OF AN INSPIRING AFRICAN

CULTURAL SPRING.

new york

May 2015 Sawubona 49

“THIS WILL BE THE PLACE TO HAVE THE CONTINENTAL CONVERSATION,” says Michelle D Gavin, MD of The Africa Center. It’s at the northern end of Fifth Avenue’s famous Museum Mile, opposite Central Park and overlooking a giant statue of jazz musician Duke Ellington and his piano. While it’s snowing outside right now, the centre’s full of the promise of an inspiring African cultural spring.

Building on its history as the Museum for African Art, the Africa Center is set to open soon as a multimedia hub promoting the arts, dialogue and business networking between the world’s hippest city and oldest continent. Formerly a mobile centre doing travelling exhibitions (it organised over 150 in Europe and the USA in its time), the new centre has now found a home at this prestigious New York address – and building’s in full progress.

It will showcase art, photography, ���� ����������� ��$�������more. “Culture can change people’s minds,” says Gavin, a former American ambassador to Botswana, who speaks

of Africa with passion and clarity. “There’ll be a contemporary bias,” she says. “We want young Africans to speak for themselves.”

Designed by Tanzanian-born architect David Adjaye, who’s based in the UK and has been awarded the Order of the British Empire for his work, the centre also has clout on its board in the form of Chelsea Clinton and Hadeel Ibrahim, daughter of Dr Mohamed “Mo” Ibrahim, a Sudanese-British mobile communications entrepreneur and billionaire philanthropist.

There are three spokes to the Africa Center, explains Gavin. Firstly, it will showcase culture; secondly, it will be a platform for critical thinking and thirdly, it will be a place where people can do business networking. “There are three themes that interest the centre – urbanisation, managing diversity and empowering youth. We want to create more understanding and tap into the rich array of partnerships on the continent,” she says.

“We aren’t a government entity and we aren’t an NGO; we’re a centre that wants to change the national conversation. I think people are

ready to manage some complexity around African issues. We want to create dialogue and try to change the national outlook.”

While the Africa Center is set to be a powerful continental presence at an already well frequented address in Manhattan, across the Brooklyn Bridge, the African spirit warms the coldest winter on record. Brooklyn is traditionally the home of the African Diaspora – you can buy Kenyan fabric, listen to Ghanaian drummers in Prospect Park and shop at West �� ���� ������%������$��������� ����creative expression in the Soul of Brooklyn Week, which is held during summer in August.

The Soul of Brooklyn festival is a borough-wide celebration of the diverse arts and cultures of Brooklyn’s African Diaspora. It promotes African arts and culture, while supporting partnerships between local arts organisations and black businesses. The festival includes over 20 performances, street fairs, educational events, workshops, ��������$����� ������������������opportunities. It’s designed to get locals and tourists to support the cultural economy of Brooklyn.

BELOW: The soul of Africa rises

in snowy New York. OPPOSITE:

The Brooklyn Museum houses a fascinating African

art collection.

For use by louiseg@nationalpositions.com only. Distribution prohibited.

new york

50 Sawubona May 2015

Not even the bitter cold can keep the crowds away from the Brooklyn Museum, which is famed for its Egyptian collection, said to be one of the best in the world. The museum also currently has a powerful African exhibition which will run until the end of next year. It’s called Double Take: African Innovations. “You may sense the hand of Eshu, the Yoruba trickster, god of the crossroads, in the relocation and ����$�� �������our African art collection,” says the museum, which is in the process of reworking and re-housing its entire African collection. “While Eshu may bring chaos and ������������������"� ��the traveller the possibility ���$���������������� � ���%��that spirit, amid the disruption of Brooklyn’s African art galleries, Double Take: African Innovations is an experimental, temporary installation �����"� ����������������������African art.”

The exhibition takes a fresh approach: pairing or grouping artworks on the basis of themes,

solutions and techniques that recur in African art across time and space. Featuring an amazing display of objects from hair ornaments, ceremonial masks and three-legged �� ��������"���0���������� �$�� ������� �� ��������������surprising connections between

�� ���� ����"� ������ ����and places – for example,

an ancient Chokwe chief ’s chair alongside a metal throne forged

from old AK47s made by contemporary Mozambican artist Gonçalo Mabunda.

Mabunda’s made a powerful name for himself internationally with his pioneering sculptures from

decommissioned weapons salvaged from the civil war.

His work is in galleries in Berlin, Paris, Palm Beach, London and Cape Town, and it’s his thrones – like the one in the Brooklyn Museum – that have generated most international attention as a none-too-subtle comment on Africa’s post-colonial rulers.

From art to fashion and food, spirited South Africans are also � ���������������� ��������

world’s hippest city. In just one week – the coldest February on record – South African jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela was performing in the city with guitarist and singer Vusi Mahlasela, South African fashion designer David Tlale was turning the heads of warmly-dressed fashionistas with his wow collection at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and the touristy icon, Madiba’s Restaurant, was continuing to serve hip homemade fare to cold, hungry visitors.

Madiba’s slogan is, appropriately, “a place of love since 1999” – the year it was opened by South Africans Grant Henegan and his wife, Jenny. The restaurant started out in Fort Green in Brooklyn. It then expanded and moved to Dekalb Avenue and also generated a sister in Harlem – the +���8������������=�������"� �������� �����"������������������vibes à la Nelson Mandela himself.

Madiba’s is decorated in friendly shebeen chic and serves traditional fare like vetkoek, lamb sosaties, boerewors rolls, frikkadels with chakalaka – and gentle humour. You can have a Salad for All or a Bushman’s Breakfast. The restaurant pays homage to SA’s revered former President and it was here that

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For use by louiseg@nationalpositions.com only. Distribution prohibited.

new york

52 Sawubona May 2015

many South Africans living in Brooklyn gathered when he passed away in December 2013.

“It’s based on the concept of a shebeen – the quintessential beer and social halls of township life in SA,” says Henegan. “These gathering places are where South Africans leave the workday behind to embrace joy, laughter, community and a little beer, to boot.”

At Madiba’s I meet up with another happening South African artist: Vanessa Solomon. Her sculptures have been exhibited in the USA and Europe, most notably at the United Nations headquarters and in the permanent collection of the South African Embassy in London. They address universal female themes and are imbued with her own African heritage and a childhood in Tzaneen, Limpopo. She came to New York after graduating from the University of Cape Town and worked as an intern at the Tallix Sculpture Foundry Beacon – at the time, one of the biggest foundries in the world.

Solomon’s since worked with top American and international artists, including Frank Stella and Frank Gaylord, developing new sculpture materials, making large-scale prototypes and doing public works.

���&�������� ��������'�"��������one of the USA’s most celebrated �������� �� �������������� ����� � �$������������������reproductions of banal everyday ��!��������������������Balloon Dog (Orange) at Christie’s in 2013 for US$58,4 million: the most expensive work by a living artist ever sold at an auction.

Solomon has now turned her hand to art education. She runs a sculpting course for children during summer in New York at three �"� ������������������� ������� ����������� ���� ������������

needs of the artistic community in �"� ���������� ������

“Many New York families encourage their kids to be engaged in art,” says Solomon. “I like the fact that the programme’s small and informal and encourages kids to be openly creative, ���������$������������0��#�������kids to do a lot of messy work and experiment – things parents usually don’t want their kids doing at home.”

Last year Solomon started a non-� �$��� ��������������������whose aim is to take art boxes into ��� ��� �������������X����� �������/ ����������������&��� ���������programme for children up the age of six. “Encouraging creativity and the arts in formative childhood is essential for a well-rounded education, for bolstering better problem-solving and for establishing a new generation, with a broader world view,” says Solomon.

It’s an ambitious programme and Solomon’s enlisted the help of fellow South �� ���'�������������������� ����'�"�������and herself a painter and graduate from the University of ����#���� � ����Solomon’s also obtained the support of Museum of Modern Art board member Lawrence Benens.

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“I believe every person is inherently creative,” says Solomon, “and art is a very powerful tool in developing children’s minds.” She’s created what she calls a Choice Time Art Box. “Choice time” refers to the hours during the day when children work independently and the box contains art supplies and techno tools to stimulate kids’ imagination and skills.

From South African artists spreading soul to the children of New York, to the Africa Center’s rising powerful presence on Fifth Avenue, there’s a sense here that the rich cultural legacy and history of Africa is mixing with the inimitable cultural beat of New York itself. Perhaps, as musician and philanthropist Bono says, this is the African century: “There’s a sort of static electricity around Africa at the moment that’s exciting. New York’s always been the global crossroads and ������� �����$ ����������� �&������ �signpost saying: ‘Africa this way.’ It’s fun, educational and imaginative.”

CONTACTSCity Sculpting:

www.citysculpting.comThe Africa Centre: www.africacenter.org

Soul of Brooklyn: www.������ �������� ������ Brooklyn Museum: www.brooklynmuseum.orgMadiba’s Restaurant:

www.madibasrestaurant.comVanessa Solomon:

www.arterykids.org

ABOVE: Mural in Williamsburg,

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Madiba’s restaurant.BELOW:

Vanessa Solomon.

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