art in all its forms

art in all its forms

1/29/10

Afro Modern

Detail from Blue Shade by Romare Bearden 1972
© Romare Bearden Foundation/DACS, London/VAGA, New York 2009

An exhibition, featuring artists ranging from Trinidadian Christopher Cozier to American Kara Walker,  opens today at the Tate Liverpool, UK.

"Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic explores the impact of different black cultures from around the Atlantic on art from the early twentieth-century to today. The exhibition takes its inspiration from Paul Gilroy's influential book The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness 1993. It features over 140 works by more than 60 artists.

Gilroy used the term 'The Black Atlantic' to describe the transmission of black cultures around the Atlantic, and the instances of cultural hybridity, that occurred as a result of transatlantic slavery and its legacy. Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic reflects Gilroy's idea of the Atlantic Ocean as a 'continent in negative', offering a network connecting Africa, North and South America, the Caribbean and Europe. It traces both real and imagined routes taken across the Atlantic, and highlights artistic links and dialogues from the early twentieth-century to today"--Tate Liverpool.

FIND out more here . READ more here . CHECK out Cozier's Tropical Night, which is featured in the exhibition, here .

3 comments:

Art Critic NYC said...

Viewed this last eve. Not an art film but a stunning document about inner city conflicts.


The 1985 Handsworth Riots, UK- Pogus Caesar - BBC1 TV . Inside Out.

Broadcast 25 Oct 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey7ijaXv6UQ

Black History UK: In 1985 racial tension and community discontentment escalated into the historical Handsworth riots that rocked Birmingham, England between 9th - 11th September 1985.

Birmingham film maker and photographer Pogus Caesar knows Handsworth well. He found himself in the centre of the riots and spent two days capturing a series of startling images. Caesar kept them hidden for 20 years. Why? And how does he see Handsworth now?.

The stark black and white photographs featured in the film provide a rare, valuable and historical record of the raw emotion, heartbreak and violence that unfolded during those dark and fateful days in September 1985.

Andre Bagoo said...

Thank you for sharing this
Andre

Monika said...

I agree with your comment about this documentary. An excellent profile on inner city conflict and it's long term legacy.

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