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Introduction << |
Scope, Limitations,
Recommendations << |
Panel Reports |
Reports on The Pan-African Conference on
The Status, Role
and Working Condition
of
the Artist in Africa
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 Panel 1
Art, Artists and Society in
Precolonial Africa
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The papers presented under
the heading of the Pre-colonial arts reveal the need for more first-hand
research and authoritative writing about the history of art in Nigeria, and by
implication elsewhere in Africa. There is a need to put this research into a
secure historical and social context with a clear understanding of the nature of
the periodization that is being presented.
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At present, the continued
use of ‘pre-colonial’ or ‘traditional’ is art-historically unsatisfactory as
they impose the appearance of a periodization that is factually untenable. The
evidence for this is provided by traditions inherited from the past that
flourish alongside practices of more recent inception.
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The arts inherited
from the past provide sources of knowledge about the past and a continuing
formal resource for all current practice, as well as supplying a variety of
local leads.
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There is no clear
fracture between ‘tradition’ and ‘modernity’ when the factual situations in that
great variety of practices are current with our present time. The older
traditions are as much part of the modern world as the more recent practices.
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There is also, and
this became obvious from the papers in panel 2-4, a clear need for the
authoritative documentation of the art media of more recent inception, i.e.
since the 1850s. These include photography, easel painting, printmaking, graphic
design, textile and fashion, and modern practices in sculpture and ceramics.
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One obvious way in
which this could begin is by the documentation of existing private collections.
Art patrons could be encouraged to realize that the historic, aesthetic and
financial value of their collections will be enhanced by documentation and
publication.
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Topics discussed in
the open sessions included the need for artists to benefit from better
management. This would include the documentation of their work and its sales and
patronage, a more careful attention to pricing structure, and more effective
exhibitions. An effective art management should also take a pro-active stance in
marketing the work of an artist.
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It was recognized that
the success of this conference in attracting international sponsorship and
participation should provide the basis for further international events of all
kinds: workshops, biennales, conferences, etc.
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All of this will
require financial input for governments, NGOs and private sources; and when
these institutions are persuaded of the need to commission art, many countries
in Africa, and Nigeria in particular, would find themselves caught up in a truly
African renaissance.
Prof. John Picton and
Prof. Ola
Oloidi
Co-chairs, Panel 1
Panel 2
Art and Artists in Postcolonial
Africa
In this section, preambles to papers
were located against a background of the precolonial and the colonial eras.
There was, however, a general belief that African artists need to understand
their past in order to forge a future.
Even in the above view there were
divergent points regarding which past, whose past and how to categorize that
past. What was considered “traditional” African arts, it was observed, still
constitute extant traditions. This led to contentions therefore as to what was
traditional after all. It was observed that beyond art, many human engagements
were indeed traditional including the whole idea of making art. A battle of
terminologies evolved with words like traditional, ancient, modern, post-modern,
post-colonial, post-Africanist, with all being debated upon. Within the contexts
of the above, two significant focuses emerged;
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The nature of what
constitutes the present
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The situation of the
present in its successes and failures.
Discussions, however, went on within
the following highlights. It was observed that artists need to reclaim the
public space so that they do not have to operate from the periphery of society,
as the cartoon artist Romanus Nkwonta did.
The artist should be seen as an ally
of government because of the value of his cultural produce. Artists must not be
made to be subservient to governments as the situations in Burkina Faso Sankara-led
regime showed. The same observation was reported for Mozambique. Thus artists
have to be wary of who they work for and why, lest they become slaves to the
public as Savane Yaya, one of the participants, observed.
The art, artist, and museum structure
were also discussed. An emphasis was placed on finding ways of making the museum
relevant in Africa. In the light the essence of installations as a new category
of making and presenting art to the public was reviewed. Art was first and
foremost made by man for man to live with and that notion implies installation.
May be there could be ways to enhance this new notion so as to encourage people
to closely observe their environments and take note of its artistic structures
and order, where applicable.
The artists relationship with the
media was also examined and suggestions made. It was thought that artists have
to make themselves visible. It was also stated clearly that art was not
synonymous with showbusiness. This is an idea worth exploring independently.
However Prof. Osa Egonwa proposed that the art guild should evolve its
bureaucracies to help keep artists alert to their responsibilities to
themselves, the works they have created and the public image of the artist.
What should art be in the present day
Africa and what future? A bond between the present and the past was recommended
with unresolved differences regarding what an artwork should be or do.
With respect to art in education, was
recommended that the art education curriculum is becoming obsolete in most parts
of Africa and needs to be reviewed and updated.
By way of a summary, it was observed
that the working and social condition of the artist should be of interest to
governments in Africa. This is because of the inestimable worth of the artwork.
The nature of the social and cultural relevance of art to any society makes the
canvassed support necessary.
Margaret Nagawa &
Frank Ugiomoh
Co-chairs, Panel II
PANEL 4
Art Propagation and Patronage in
Africa: Beyond the Bread-and-Butter Syndrome
Prof. Yacouba Konate of University of
Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and P-J Ezeh of Department of Sociology/Anthropology,
University of Nigeria, Nsukka, co-chaired this panel on the two days it held,
May 2, and May 3, 2002. The subtheme was “Reminders On Art in Africa: Art
Propagation and Patronage in Africa.” Before the first day session commenced,
Panel 3 was merged with Panels 2 and 4 such that some of that panel were taken
to Panel 2 and the others to Panel 4.
Nineteen papers were scheduled to be
presented. All but five of these were presented by the end of the second day.
The papers not presented were those whose authors neither were in attendance nor
sent to the conference. In two instances papers were read for the authors unable
to attend. One of these was on behalf of Everlyn Nicodemus and the other was on
behalf of Dr. J.T. Agberia. One paper that was not originally scheduled was also
presented. In all 15 papers were presented.
A vast area of interests was covered
under this subtheme. While the efforts of artists were commended, it was
suggested that there were still rooms for improvement in the domains of concepts
as covered by the artists vis-à-vis the issue of whether to pander to popular
taste or to be really original; media relations, and marketing of products of
the artists. One paper stressed the issue of quality of products of artists as
the only thing that might survive them in an unsalutary socioeconomic
environment where lifespan for art had become too short.
Nigerian and Ghanaian governments
were criticized by some presenters for not putting due premium on art and
culture. In the case of Nigeria it was specifically mentioned that after the
National cultural policy was introduced on August 28, 1988 nothing had been done
to implement it. The government was also severely criticized for the effort to
privatize the National Arts Theatre Complex. In the case of Ghana, art education
was recommended as an effective way to enhance national development. A paper
combining text and a slide demonstration of an actual project in Kenya made a
similar recommendation to all African nations. It suggested that teaching of art
should begin as early as possible in a learner’s life. Using the Uganda example,
another paper showed how hard it could be to practise some genres of art in a
setting where such was not well understood by members of the public.
One paper drew attention to the abuse
of African art by fake asylum seekers who employ hawking of tawdry, usually
copied, paintings as a ploy to beg in central Europe. Another paper recommended
an increase in the number of museums as a custody of art objects, while yet
another criticized the structure and size of the museums now in existence,
describing them as inadequate. For instance, it suspected that the nature of the
present museums limited the performance of exhibiting artists who must confine
the size of their own works to what is capable of being accommodated in those
museums. Like the first paper, it recommended more suitable museums.
Peter Ezeh and
Prof. Yacouba Konate
Co-chairs, Panel IV
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