Tag Archives: documentation

Art aspiring to unite and liberate people of African descent

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THE BARBICAN ART Gallery is holding an exhibition, “Project a Black Planet”, until 6 September 2026. Filled with a variety of superb artworks by a range of artists, it is well worth seeing. It also includes artistic videos, photographs and documentary material,

The exhibition’s theme is the art of Pan-Africanism. The gallery’s website describes Pan-Africanism as:

“… a broad spectrum of political and philosophical movements advocating anti-colonial resistance and transnational solidarity amongst peoples of African descent.”

Wikipedia has an article on Pan-Africanism, which noted:

“As a philosophy, Pan-Africanism represents the aggregation of the historical, cultural, spiritual, artistic, scientific, and philosophical legacies of Africans from past times to the present. Pan-Africanism as an ethical system traces its origins from ancient times, and promotes values that are the product of the African civilisations and the struggles against slavery, racism, colonialism, and neocolonialism … Modern Pan-Africanism began around the start of the 20th century. The African Association, later renamed the Pan-African Association, was established around 1897 by Henry Sylvester Williams, who organized the First Pan-African Conference in London in 1900 … Pan-Africanism is a movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all indigenous peoples of Africa along with all peoples of African descent. The belief extends beyond continental Africans with a substantial support base among the African diaspora in the Americas and Europe.”

The works on display illustrate the ideas and realities of this movement well in a variety of visually intriguing ways.

The artists whose works are being shown come from Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, North America and Western Europe. Some, such as Chris Ofili, Marlene Dumas, El Anatsui, William Kentridge, Wilfredo Lam, Ibrahim El-Salahi, Lubaina Himid, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye are artists whose works I have seen before. The other artists were new to me, but most of their works are highly accomplished and visually fascinating. Oddly, the well-known artists Yinka Shonibare and Hurvin Anderson were not represented.

The exhibits were wonderfully displayed in the well-designed Barbican Gallery, which I feel is a better place to display modern art than the Tate Modern. Each of the rooms on the first floor were dedicated to artworks relating to some of the many aspects of Pan-Africanism, and in each space, there was an information panel explaining how the artworks fitted into the Pan-African scheme of things. Even without the explanations, what was on display at this show is a satisfying feast for the eyes.

Shifting Identities: movement of crafts across national boundaries in the Indian subcontinent

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THERE HAVE BEEN events that have caused people to flee from one part of the Indian subcontinent to another, traversing national boundaries.  The best known of these events was the Partition of India in 1947. Another event was the Bangladesh War of 1971, which resulted in Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) becoming independent, no longer united with West Pakistan.

 

Until I visited an exhibition,  “Shifting Identities”, at Arthshila, an art institution in Ahmedabad, I was unaware of India’s temporary occupation of a part of West Pakistan in 1971. In order to deflect some of West Pakistan’s army from their activities in East Pakistan, India staged an attack on Sindh, a province in West Pakistan.  As a result of this, India temporarily annexed a part of Sindh close to Kacchch (Kutch). This annexation was reversed by treaty in 1972. However, this resulted in a flow of refugees from Pakistan  into border areas of Gujarat and Rajasthan.  Likewise, during the liberation struggle in what was East Pakistan, refugees flowed from what was to become Bangladesh into Indian West Bengal.

 

Amongst the migrants who sought refuge in India, there were many who were skilled in traditional crafts,  notably textile manufacturing. 

 

The splendid exhibition at Arthshila contains beautiful examples of textiles made by refugees both from Sindh and the former East Pakistan.  The exhibition also includes documents and photograph albums that belonged to these people who felt it necessary to flee their former homes. The photographs in the albums were those sent to the migrants by family and friends they had left behind.

 

The show at Arthshila is both attractive and very moving. The exhibits are well labelled with much information. It showcases the skills that were the only riches that the refugees were able to carry with them when forces beyond their control made them feel it was necessary to leave the land that had been their home for innumerable generations.