The #Jerusalemadancechallenge will enter history as the global COVID-19 crisis’ unprecedented, contemporary African-inspired symbol of hope. Yet the Angolan origins of this viral trend, and the reason behind Jerusalema ’s explosive popularity, are barely touched upon by the international media. In February 2020, Os Fenómenos do Semba [The Semba Phenomena] posted a video under the hashtag #jerusalemadancechallenge. I remember the mix of intense joy and longing I felt listening to Jerusalema’s...
The #Jerusalemadancechallenge will enter history as the global COVID-19 crisis’ unprecedented, contemporary African-inspired symbol of hope. Yet the...
Michael Schmidt’s Death Flights uncovers one of the darkest chapters of Apartheid oppression. The fear of communism. In the seventies and eighties of last century, the elimination of ‘evil communism’ was key to the politics of dictators like Pinochet in Chile and Videla in Argentina. It had no limits, thousands of opponents of their rule disappeared completely. It is well known fact that, in spite of a lot of international protest, these generals always had a comfortable nights rest since they...
Michael Schmidt’s Death Flights uncovers one of the darkest chapters of Apartheid oppression. The fear of communism. In the seventies and eighties of...
We are standing in solidarity with African changemakers. Highlighting their stories and insights. Building a world beyond them and us. Join the movement! Meet Aisha Yesufu. She is one of the leaders of a rapidly growing protest movement in Nigeria. Young people want an end to structural police violence, abuse of power and corruption. Yesufu is fighting for a just future. "Don't put any ethnic or religious labels on me," she says. "Those are landmines." It’s not only Nigeria. Elsewhere on the...
We are standing in solidarity with African changemakers. Highlighting their stories and insights. Building a world beyond them and us. Join the movement!...
Nok terracottas are proof that an ancient civilisation once existed in Nigeria. Now they are at the centre of a multi-million dollar, globe-spanning underground industry. Nigeria loses out. Outside it has become night. In front of the windows of one of Abuja’s grandest hotels, the pool shines turquoise blue. Finally, the phone rings. It is the hotel’s front desk, announcing a guest. The man who comes into the room, hours late for the scheduled appointment, is named Umaru Potiskum. He is an art...
Nok terracottas are proof that an ancient civilisation once existed in Nigeria. Now they are at the centre of a multi-million dollar, globe-spanning...
Exploitation and imagination in the works of this year’s principal winner of the Prince Claus Award. It was at boarding school that Ibrahim Mahama's interest in art was aroused. ‘We had a lot of time to draw and the teachers made us curious about art and aesthetics’. But it was his training at the Painting and Sculpture department of the Kwame Nkrumah University for Science and Technology in Ghana that laid the foundation for the artistry that has earned him the prestigious 2020 Prince Claus Award...
Exploitation and imagination in the works of this year’s principal winner of the Prince Claus Award. It was at boarding school that Ibrahim Mahama's...
30 philosophers challenging the traditional western canon. Inspired by UNESCO’s implementation of World Philosophy Day, illustrator Saskia Pfaetzer and writer Marian van Enckevort went on a journey of discovery. They were not hampered by any rules of categorisation. And here it is: an impressive showcase of thinkers from today and long ago, from the African continent and elsewhere. Anton Wilhelm Ano (Ghana), Pauline Jidenu Houtondji (Ivory Coast), Cornel West (USA), Paulo Freire (Brasil), Achille...
30 philosophers challenging the traditional western canon. Inspired by UNESCO’s implementation of World Philosophy Day, illustrator Saskia Pfaetzer and...
In the past, black portraiture has tended towards fanciful depictions that have little semblance to the lived experiences of Black and Brown bodies, from the African continent and beyond. In the past, black portraiture has tended towards fanciful depictions that have little semblance to the lived experiences of Black and Brown bodies, from the African continent and beyond. Liminality in Infinite Space , an exhibition at the Lagos’ based African Artists Foundation moves away from exaggerated...
In the past, black portraiture has tended towards fanciful depictions that have little semblance to the lived experiences of Black and Brown bodies, from...
Stilspraak is a richly illustrated and beautifully executed monograph on the work of the internationally renowned South African artist Strijdom van der Merwe. In the beginning, variasie met foto (2016). Namibië According to author Carina van der Walt, a South African poet and literary expert who also developed into an art journalist after moving to the Netherlands in 2007, land art is still a relatively unknown phenomenon, at least in South Africa. Land art originated in the 1960s: the flower power...
Stilspraak is a richly illustrated and beautifully executed monograph on the work of the internationally renowned South African artist Strijdom van der...
Stilspraak is een rijk geïllustreerde en fraai uitgevoerde monografie over het werk van de internationaal gerenommeerde Zuid-Afrikaanse landkunstenaar Strijdom van der Merwe. In the beginning, variasie met foto (2016). Namibië Volgens schrijfster Carina van der Walt, een Zuid-Afrikaanse dichteres en letterkundige die zich na haar verhuizing naar Nederland in 2007 eveneens tot kunstjournalist heeft ontwikkeld, is landkunst een nog relatief onbekend fenomeen, in elk geval in Zuid-Afrika. Landkunst is...
Stilspraak is een rijk geïllustreerde en fraai uitgevoerde monografie over het werk van de internationaal gerenommeerde Zuid-Afrikaanse landkunstenaar...
At its 446th birthday, Leiden University (Netherlands) will honour a great fighter for justice and self-determination. Graça Machel, born in 1945 in Gaza Province, Portuguese East Africa (Mozambique today), speaks to many people’s imaginations. From 1973, after studying German in Lisbon, she became a teacher and joined the Mozambican struggle for independence. After liberation in 1975, Machel, a member of Frelimo, was appointed Minister of Education and Culture. In that same year she married former...
At its 446th birthday, Leiden University (Netherlands) will honour a great fighter for justice and self-determination. Graça Machel, born in 1945 in Gaza...
The struggle for freedom of expression is key to the outstanding work of this Zimbabwean novelist, poet, play write and filmmaker. ‘For the past sixteen years, PEN International has given the PEN Award for Freedom of Expression at the opening ceremony of the Winternachten Festival in The Hague’, says PEN International President, Jennifer Clement. ‘With the active participation of Netherlands PEN and the PEN Emergency Fund, the award honours writers who have been persecuted for their work and...
The struggle for freedom of expression is key to the outstanding work of this Zimbabwean novelist, poet, play write and filmmaker. ‘For the past sixteen...
A death sentence for the rank and file of poaching syndicates in southern Africa is inhuman and unconstitutional. In late November 2020, the Mail and Guardian reported that the Botswana Defence Force shot and killed four alleged poachers fishing along the Chobe river. Reports have since emerged stating that none of the fishermen were armed, and one of them may have been killed only after he was arrested. The incident has brought to the fore the controversial “shoot to kill” policy in place to curb...
A death sentence for the rank and file of poaching syndicates in southern Africa is inhuman and unconstitutional. In late November 2020, the Mail and...
While his music was political, he did not want to be a ‘state composer’. Music is not a zero sum game with only one ‘best’. But if you seek to name one musician whose life embodies the South African people’s struggle for a national culture, it must be trombonist, composer and cultural activist Jonas Mosa Gwangwa , who was born on 19 October 1937 in Orlando East, Johannesburg, and died on 23 January 2021 in Johannesburg aged 83. Through 65 years on stage, Gwangwa’s playing contributed to every genre...
While his music was political, he did not want to be a ‘state composer’. Music is not a zero sum game with only one ‘best’. But if you seek to name one...
Here's a digital publication hailing Kenya's emerging designers, illustrators, writers, stylists and photographers coming together in times of COVID-19. WAUZINE, that takes its name from ‘Wau’ — Nairobi slang for ‘Wow’, is an online magazine set up in 2020 to showcase and celebrate the work of young creatives. The magazine has had three editions so far: The first, Neighbourhood, travels across Kenya's capital to explore its cultural landscape. A fashion story by creative director Sunny Dolat, a...
Here's a digital publication hailing Kenya's emerging designers, illustrators, writers, stylists and photographers coming together in times of COVID-19....
In this online live event, Rose Wambui Kamande, Odilia Anyachi Okonga, Vamba Sherif and Rahab Njeri will discuss life and work, especially his latest work, The Perfect Nine with the Kenyan giant world literature. Ngugi's influence is indisputable. The continent of Africa and the entire world is proud to have him in their midst. He continues to extend the boundaries of literature and to emphasise the importance of native languages in the evolution of cultures. The conversation will take place on...
In this online live event, Rose Wambui Kamande, Odilia Anyachi Okonga, Vamba Sherif and Rahab Njeri will discuss life and work, especially his latest...
No others, same time in African Cosmologies. Photography, Time, and the Other. It is a beautifully produced book. The enticing image, Four Twins , by the late Nigerian artist Rotimi Fani-Kayode , overlaid by the imprinted title African Cosmologies , enhanced with titian metallic foil, creates an attractive case bound cover. Closed, the book triggers a sense of anticipation and curiosity that the click of an eBook simply cannot deliver. On opening this work it becomes immediately obvious that the...
No others, same time in African Cosmologies. Photography, Time, and the Other. It is a beautifully produced book. The enticing image, Four Twins , by the...
As a second-generation Ghanaian diasporan born and bred in the Netherlands the work of James Barnor intrigues me in several ways. Certainly, because it gives me a glimpse of Ghanaian history, yet what stands out most are the photographs of Ghanaian women, which he captured in all their glory. Their poses, their attire, their hairstyles and the backdrop of the pictures, depicting a reality different than the status quo, allows me to imagine how the uniqueness of womanhood has travelled through space...
As a second-generation Ghanaian diasporan born and bred in the Netherlands the work of James Barnor intrigues me in several ways. Certainly, because it...
The djelis took cultures and traditions across the African continent and even the world. They even resonate in the works of rappers and spoken word artists. In his seminal work, The Guardian of the Word , Guinean novelist Camara Laye explored the work of Djeli’s in several countries in West Africa. Laye focused on his own people, the Mandé, who are spread across Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Mali. In fact, many of the people of Sierra Leone,...
The djelis took cultures and traditions across the African continent and even the world. They even resonate in the works of rappers and spoken word...
Win een exemplaar van Nadia Owusu's spraakmakende memoir. Als Nadia twee is, laat haar Armeens-Amerikaanse moeder hun gezin in de steek. Nadia blijft achter met haar kleine zusje en hun Ghanese vader, die als ambtenaar bij de VN werkt. Ze bewonen plekken over de hele wereld: Rome, Dar es Salaam, Kumasi en Londen. Nadia spreekt meerdere talen en heeft meerdere thuislanden. Ze vraagt zich af of ze Europees, Afrikaans of Amerikaans is. Of niets van dat alles? Als haar vader overlijdt, voelt Nadia zich...
Win een exemplaar van Nadia Owusu's spraakmakende memoir. Als Nadia twee is, laat haar Armeens-Amerikaanse moeder hun gezin in de steek. Nadia blijft...
Germany made a first step. However, ‘we need to break down the institutional inertia’, the Nigerian Ambassador to the country argues. Much has been written and said of late about the Benin Bronzes and Africa’s struggle for restitution of its stolen cultural properties in general. As one of the interlocutors who has helped to revitalise this longstanding issue that continues to trigger curiosity and capture public attention, I feel obliged to share my perspective on the long struggle for the...
Germany made a first step. However, ‘we need to break down the institutional inertia’, the Nigerian Ambassador to the country argues. Much has been...
This year’s online edition of Movies that Matter features at least four films of interest to our readership. Paradise Desert This is a world premiere! Filmmaker Ike Bertels takes us to a prosperous and happy diamond town in the south of Namibia that is forced to think about its future now that the mines are all emptied. Will the remaining inhabitants be able to turn the town around? This is an observational documentary which lets the townspeople and the stunning landscape speak for themselves. The...
This year’s online edition of Movies that Matter features at least four films of interest to our readership. Paradise Desert This is a world premiere!...
