Volume 1 issue 1

AMANDA HOLIDAY SU- SUSAN PATRICE SKARZ

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Contributors 4 INTRODUCTION 5

EXHIBITION: Amanda holiday 6 Pan-African aesthetics 13

EXHIBITION: susan patrice 14 EXHIBITION: skarz 26

DATEBOOK: Go see art 34 info 36

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Contributors

Amanda Holiday was born

in Sierra Leone, and moved

to the UK at the age of five.

Active in the black political

art arena in the 1980s,

Holiday exhibited in

landmark shows such as

'The Image Employed' and

the touring show 'Plotting

The Course'. In 2001,

Holiday moved to Cape

Town, South Africa where

she wrote and directed

several educational televi-

sion series. She edited the

forthcoming 'Ijazz' photo

book on South Africa's jazz

history funded by the SA

Department of Arts and

Culture. In 2008 Holiday

resumed drawing with 10

huge new charcoal and

pastel works in the 'Hum of

History' series - which fore-

shadowed her permanent

return to the UK.

Susan Patrice began her work

in photography in 1985

following formal studies at

the Southeast Center for Pho-

tographic Studies. She later

studied with Emmitt Gowen,

Mary Ellen Mark, and Jack

Leigh. From the beginning of

her career her objective was

to seek out and record the

people, environments, and

rapidly passing lifestyles of

the American South. Patrice's

award-winning photographs

are in numerous private and

corporate collections. Her

work has appeared in

museums and gal lery

exhibitions, magazines and

newspapers across the US.

SKARZ A.K.A. Andrianoely Andry began photography in

1995 when in Paris, though he has always loved graphic

art. Throughout the 1990s, he toured extensively with

the 9mm Sound System where live music ,video artists,

painters and diverse performers where sharing the stage.

Since his arrival in Madagascar in 2000, he shares his

experience with the artists of the area as a consultant

and continues his journey as a painter.

Dr. Robert Douglas is a painter, sculptor, and scholar. His

interest in the visual arts began at an early age. While

attending High School he enrolled in a correspondence

course in commercial art. Douglas has curated an exhibition

of African American artists for the University of Palermo,

Sicily and lectured at the American Academy in Rome. Aside

from working on two books, he is involved in continuing

research on the first generation of African American artists

of Kentucky and the legacy they have bequeathed to well

known artists such as Sam Gilliam, Ed Hamilton, Houston

Conwill, Ken Young and the late Bob Thompson. His most

recent book is Resistance, Insurgence and Identity: The Art

of Mari Evans, Nelson Stevens and the Black Arts

Movement, published by African World Press.

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INTRODUCTION You have entered the first issue of Open Gallery Magazine. We embrace all notions of a “gallery.” Open Gallery is first and foremost an exhi-bition where the curious as well as the converted discover art from people and places of Africa and the Diaspora. Like the inexpensive gallery seats to an excellent show, it is accessible without compromising quality. It is the “peanut gallery,” the public of art lovers who will find a space for dialog within our pages. Academics are welcome, right along with the unschooled. Open Gallery is the front porch where those candid and poignant conversa-tions happen, and where you find yourself lingering, enjoying new and familiar people and ideas. We are grateful and indebted to the artists exhibited in this issue. With their help, we aim to illustrate the wide range of works you can expect from Open Gal-lery and our mission to seek out African art anywhere. We’ve found artists who can convey the multi-faceted realities of modern life in Africa and the Diaspora. Artists like Skarz aka Andry Andrianoly, who is a self-appointed keeper of Mala-gasy culture, a griot who tells ancient stories with spray cans and cement walls. Amanda Holiday’s work deals with the familiar notions of placement, displace-ment, and perhaps even re-placement that is part of the movement that creates a diaspora. Susan Patrice offers an intimate insight into the overlooked spaces where black and white people and cultures intersect in America; spaces where love can quietly live. We hope this introductory issue gives you an idea of what to expect: exhibitions that show that variety of artistic expression in, about and for the African Diaspo-ra.

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A M

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OLID

AY

I am mixed-race and was born in Sierra Leone. My English mother left

my African father and took me and my sister to live in the north of Eng-

land when we were very young. Twenty years later I returned to Sierra

Leone and saw my father again. Much later via facebook and the inter-

net I connected up with various half brothers and sisters. In 2001, I

went to live in South Africa, married and my daughter was born there.

Now settled back in the UK, I retain links to varied places.

Years ago I started this large-scale series of drawings on brown paper

which I called ‘The Hum of History’. I meant Hum as in ‘kyo’ or the

sound or vibration that connects us all to everything in the universe. It

was quite a grand idea at the time I suppose – I wanted to create an ep-

ic, fluid, narrative series that would go on and on and on - a narrative of

the world that would make more sense as it continued. Everything fed

into it – my own experience, migration, fairytale, being black and fe-

male, work, love, the world at large, domestic life, politics, stories.

I resumed the Hum of History drawings in 2008 at a critical moment in

my life. Unhappy and isolated in Cape Town, I wanted to bring about big

change in my life. I started drawing again almost as a kind of exorcism -

to ‘draw myself out’ of my current situation – and I suppose that is what

happened. I drew non-stop for over a year – huge vibrant, 3 metre x 2

metre drawings that filled every wall of the house. I pictured myself - al-

ways wearing the same yellow cardigan and clutching my daughter’s

hand as we strode boldly out of the picture - towards the future. The

works played with size and were peopled with giants and midgets. I

plundered facebook friends’ photographs for inspiration and moments

from their lives started to fill odd corners of the drawings. The works be-

came prophetic and resonated with people in strange ways.

Since my return to the UK, the work has become smaller. The series

‘The Bride Who Ate Her Husband’ - still infused by a sub-Saharan sense

of colour - is a humorous and fictional re-telling of the breakdown of a

marriage. I suppose what I mostly want to do with my art is tell stories,

intrigue and continually question the authenticity of what we are about.

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The Ark

chalk pastel on paper

2009

Rapunzel chalk pastel on paper

2009 (Previous)

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Red Riding Hood

chalk pastel on paper

1988

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The Bride Who Ate Her Husband 1

Chalk pastel on paper

2010

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AMANDA HOLIDAY

The Bride Who Ate Her Husband 2

Chalk pastel on paper

2010

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Systematically, the African masses who

are least effected by Western education-

al processes are the ones who have re-

mained closer to the African culture from

which they were taken. Likewise,it is the

untrained, naive artists, as they are

described, who create concepts, have

visions, and use symbolisms rich in

elements of African religion and art.

A common thread tying these artists

together is their adherence to religious

Ior spiritual impulses to create their

private visions. While the artists from the

United States are usually inspired by a

form of Christianity, those from Jamaica

or Haiti are inspired by spiritual

inclinations connected to African

religious beliefs.

However, the Chicago based artist

George Phi|pot's reason for his art is

explicable to all of these artists. He says,

"I began my art because I was inspired

by the hand of God. I had to have had a

higher Being helping me because I didn't

know what I was doing." The Haitian

artists George Liautaud, Hector Hippolite

and Robert St. Brice were Vodun Priests.

Their art is replete with symbols and

images of Vodum spiritual entities, i.e.

Izulie, Damballa, DambaII's Wife,

Mistress Serine and Mambo. Everald

Brown of Jamaica, a self ordained Priest

of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church

designed a small church, its wall murals

and unique musical instruments based

on his intense spiritual visions.

Brown also claims that his artistic

inspirations are created out of the

religious philosophy of Rastafarianism.

Amos Ferguson ofthe Bahamas

continues this tradition of art and

spirituality that connects him, like the

other diasporan artists, to an African

religious based art. Also like Bill Traylor,

Daniel Pressley and Philpot of the United

States, Fugerson's religious affiliation is

Christian based.

According to F.S.C Northrup, all art has a

double function. lts first function, an

aesthetic based on its formal

construction, is concerned with the

immediate apprehendable media and

techniques to insure the appropriate and

correct fabrication, an understanding of

proportions, anatomy or the mixing of

colors to create the illusion of human

figure.

The same is true for three dimensional

art as well as other art forms. Northrup

continues his assertion by stating that

the second function of art is dependent

upon another body of knowledge, or

discipline, i.e. history, psychology,

sociology, anthropology, etc.‘

Pan African Art The Signature of African Art in the African Diaspora

Robert Douglas

Excerpt

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SUSA

N P

ATR

ICE

My attraction to photographing nannies was born of my desire to pay

tribute to the lives of women who unconditionally love children that are

not their own.

My own childhood was filled with memories of my beloved nanny Sadie.

I was so in love with her. Her skin was so dark and smooth, her eyes

bright and open, her body round and solid, and her voice melodic as

though always on the verge of song. I wanted more than anything to

make her happy. She was, in essence, all the things my mother could

not be. The most important of which, was home.

I assumed Sadie was a member of my family, something akin to a

grandmother. I didn’t yet understand race, or skin color, or what it

meant to work for pay. I only understood how happy and safe I felt when

she was with me and how lonely and odd the house felt at night when

she was gone.

Just after my 6th birthday my family decided to move from Jacksonville,

Florida down south to Pompano Beach. Sadie helped pack the house

and somewhere in the middle of the packing I understood that Sadie

wouldn’t be coming with me. I was told that Sadie was a nanny and that

she had a house of her own. I cried for months. It was my first big heart-

break.

When I began photographing children and families I discovered a beauti-

ful hidden world of nannies. I would arrive a few minutes early to find

mothers rushing home from work to be photographed with perfectly

dressed babies kept happy and content by their own Sadie’s. In time I

was trusted to return and was invited into their sweet private world.

What I found was that in spite of class differences and racial and gender

inequality that relegates women to domestic work, that these women,

instead of being bitter or angry, carried out beautiful acts of love above

and beyond what was required for their jobs. It is my hope that these

photographs pay tribute to each woman’s amazing grace and most of all

captures a sweet intimacy reminiscent of the deep affection I felt for my

true first love Sadie.

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Talking to Mom

film photograph

1982

Dress Up

film photograph

1994 (Previous)

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Playing Chase

1995

film photograph

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Nap Time

film photograph

1992

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Summertime

film photograph

1994

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After Breakfast

film photograph

1993

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Saying Goodbye

film photograph

1993

SUSAN PATRICE

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SKA

RZ

La rue

Quand des visiteurs arrivent à Madagascar (où n'importe où sur le

continent) ils sont choqués par la vitalité qui s'etale partout dans la

rue.Des enceintes géantes crachent le rythme du moment, les marchants

ambulants sont partout et meme Mamie prepare son dejeuner dans la

rue. La rue est la galerie de l'Afrique.La vie est devoilée aux yeux de tous.

L'art de nos ancetres etait une reaction à ce quotidien, griots qui chan-

taient la vie et la mort, sculpteur qui figeait le temps dans le bois.

Dans ce 21eme siècle tout neuf, l'économie a changée mais notre culture

reste la meme. Mon art est en interaction avec son environnement.

Certaines de mes peintures me sont commandées par le public, la

plupart ne le sont pas mais les réactions sont toujours positives. Pendant

l'African faces project, les personnes agées me remerciait quand elles

voyaient les jeunes poser des questions pendant que je peignais:

"Izy io? Mpanzaka tsiky taloha e. Ohh!"

Puis ils partaient chercher des infos sur ces rois dont ils n'avaient jamais

entendu parler. Ils ne mettront peut etre jamais les pieds dans un musée

mais la rue est à eux. La vie est dans la rue , l'art est dans la rue.

l'art est la vie.

The streets

When newcomers arrive in Madagascar (or wherever on the continent)

they are shocked by the vitality that spreads throughout the streets.

Sound systems shooting the rhythm of the day, peddlers everywhere, even

grandma is cooking here. The streets are the gallery of Africa. Life is

public, as is art. In ancient times, art was a reaction to everyday life;

street musicians singing joy and death, the carver freezing the time I

wood.

In this new 21st Century, economics are changing, but the culture is still

the same. My art is an interaction with this environment. Some of the

paintings are requested by the public. Most are not, but reaction is always

positive. With the African Faces project, the elderly thanked me when they

youngsters asking questions as I painted:

"Who's this? One of our old kings. Oh!"

They then went looking for information about these kings they had never

heard of. None of them may ever set foot in a museum, but the streets

are theirs. Life is in the street. Art is in the street. Art is life.

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Bara Anosibe

graffiti

2009 (Previous)

Phoenix Ampefiloha

graffiti

2009

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Mpanjaka Ampefiloha

graffiti

2009

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Ampela Ampefiloha

graffiti

2009

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Sakalava Antanimena

graffiti

2009

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Bara Anosibe

graffiti

2009

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SKARZ

The Blind King Ankatso

graffiti

2009

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Atlanta

Atlanta Summer Arts Festival

July 19-22, 2012

Greenbriar Mall, 2418 Greenbriar Parkway SW

theatlantasummerartsfestival.com

Lameck Bonjisi “The Messengers”

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600

Clifton Rd.

Bristol, UK

Superpower: Africa in Science Fiction

Thru July 1

Arnolfini, 16 Narrow Quay, sBS1 4QA

arnolfini.org.uk

Durban, South Africa

Louise Hall “All Fired Up”

June 19-July 8

166 Bulwer Road, Glenwood, Kwazulu Natal

kznsagallery.co.za

Lagos

“Dinner for Two”

Forthcoming

One Room Shack, PO Box 51787 Falomo, Ikoyi

1roomshack.com

London

International Festival of Digital Arts, 2012 Seminars

July-August

Watermans, 40 High Street, Brentford TW8 0DS

University.

water-

mans.ticketsolve.com/shows/126521636/events

Katia Kameli film screenings and discussion

July 12

The Delfina Foundation, 29/31 Catherine Place,

Victoria SW1E 6DY

delfinafoundation.com

“Collective Artistes”

2012-2013

collectiveartistes.co.uk/current-productions

Paris

Pume “Why not Bylex?”

Through October

Revue Noire

8 rue Cels

F - 75014

Tokyo

About African cloth and people

July 10

10-7 Wakamiyacho, Shinjuku-ku

agsj_tokyo@sahelgreen.org

Resources

The Arterial Network

www.arterialnetwork.org/about/vision

African Contemporary Art Gallery

africancontemporary.com

The Arterial Network

arterialnetwork.org/about/vision

Black Cultural Archives, in London

http://www.bcaheritage.org.uk/

Contemporary African Art Gallery

http://www.contempafricanart.com/

Gems of Africa Gallery

gemsofafricagallery.com

Hammonds House

hammondshouse.org

House of African Art, Japan

houseofafricanart.jp/en/

RECREATIVE

recreativeuk.com

Send your events info to

joinus@anopengallery.com

Datebook: where and when to see art

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And you.

Open Gallery is looking for contributions from visual artists in any medium

whose work originates from, is reflective of, or responds to engagement with the

people and place of Africa and the ongoing global Diaspora from the continent.

We welcome those who proudly claim the labels attached to these notions, and

those who just as adamantly work toward their evolution. Sculpture, painting,

photography, digital, multi-medium and artworks are welcome.

Artists, send us a note along with with 5-10 high quality images or samples of

your work. Be prepared to discuss your work with a statement whose form will be

discussed should we find your work a good fit with our mission and objectives at

this time.

Gallerists and museum professionals, send information about your upcoming

events, favorite arts, and pet projects. We welcome your snippets, as well as your

written contributions of 600-1200 words, depending on the topic.

Writers, we seek your reviews and previews, especially of events of regional

importance. Academic explorations are welcome, but the style must be widely

accessible. Timely pieces and historical reflections are welcome.

Send all materials and inquiries to JoinUs@AnOpenGallery.com.

Nkule Mbaso Max Boufathal Nathalie Mba

Bikoro

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