In/sight : African photographers, 1940 to the present : [Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, May 24-September 29, 1996

288 Pages·1996·18.5 MB·English

by  Bell, Clare

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In/sight: African Photographers, 1940 to the Present
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
May 24-Septemter 29, 1996
Curated by
Clare Bell, Okwui Enwezor, Danielle lilkin, and Octavio Zaya
This exhibition is funded by The Rockefeller Foundation and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
Major continuing support and international air transportation are provided by Lufthansa.
Digitized by the Internet Archive
2012 with funding from
in
New METRO
Metropolitan York Library Council
-
http://archive.org/details/africphOObell
In/sight: African Photographers, 1940 to the Present
GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM
In/sight: African Photographers,
1940tothe Present
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
May24-September29, 1996
This exhibition is funded in partby
The Rockefeller Foundation and The Andy
Warhol Foundation forthe Visual Arts.
Majorcontinuing support and in©ternational air
transportation are provided by Lufthansa
© 1996The Solomon R. Guggenheim
Foundation, New York. All rights reserved.
ISBN 0-8109-6895-9 (hardcover)
ISBN 0-89207-169-9 (softcover)
Printed in Italy by Mariogros,
color separations bySele OffsetTorino
Hardcoveredition distributed by
Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
100 Fifth Avenue
NewYork, NewYork 10011
Guggenheim Museum Publications
1071 Fifth Avenue
NewYork, New York 10128
Designed byCara Galowitz
Front:SeydouKeita,Untitled,1959.Gelatin-silver
print; image: 35.5x25.5cm, sheet:40x30cm.
Fonds Nationald'ArtContemporain, Ministerede
la Culture, Paris Inv.: 95148.
Back: Lamia Naji, Catania, Italy, 1994. Gelatin-
silver print, 40 x 30 cm. Courtesyofthe artist.
Contents
Preface
Thomas Krens 6
Acknowledgments
Clare Bell, Olcwui Enwezor, Danielle 1 ilk'in, Octavio Zaya 7
Introduction
Clare Bell 9
Colonial Imaginary, Tropes of Disruption: History, Culture, and
Representation in the Works of African Photographers
Okwui Enwezor and Octavio Zaya 17
Plates 49
A Critical Presence: Drum Magazine in Context
Okwui Enwezor 179
Plates 193
Photography and the Substance of the Image
Olu Oguibe 231
Artists' Biographies, Statements, and
Works in the Exhibition 253
Preface Thoommaass Krvrens
This exhibition represents a substantial turning point in the museum's history. For the first time, African and not
Europeanconstructsinformtheideassurroundingtheworksonview. FoundedonthetenetsofEuropeanmodernism
and itstendencytoward abstract forms, the Solomon R. GuggenheimMuseum, from itsverybeginnings, has served
asbothacatalystandchampion oravant-gardetheories and approachesto art. In/sight:AfricanPhotographers, 1Q40
to the Present is also rare in that it recuses major critical attention on issues or representation, a subject that either
remained dormant or was subsumed by abstract idioms in past exhibitions. Painting and sculpture from Eastern
andWestern Europe, aswell as NorthAmerica, have been the mainstay ofthe museum formorethan half a century.
Only inthe lastfewyears havewe hadthe means and opportunityto expand fromthat nucleus, leading us to address
the globe at large and to include other mediums in our programming and collecting efforts.
Photography is now chief among the museums pursuits. By broadening its engagement with twentieth-century
art to encompass photography and multimedia, the institution has embarked on a dynamic journey, one that moves
significantly beyond modernism's reflective inquiries to contend with art forms and discourses that challenge
conventional ideologies while constantly advancing newmethods of inquiry and debate. In bringing together thirty
African-born photographers, this exhibition not only honors the achievements of these artists but highlights a
medium whose fundamental relationship to the arts in Africa is largely unfamiliar to Western audiences.
As always, our sponsors have proved to be the most pivotal of advocates. In order to embark on this project, the
museum needed crucial funds for research and printed materials. Above all, I would like to thank Alberta Arthurs,
Director of Arts and Humanities, and Tomas Ybarra-Frausto, Associate Director of Arts and Humanities, at The
Rockefeller Foundation for their unwavering support of the Guggenheim Museum's endeavor to organize a
presentation of African art. My appreciation is offered to The AndyWarhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, most
especially to Pamela Clapp, Program Director, for her assistance and support. I am equally indebted to Jiirgen
Weber, Chairman of Lufthansa German Airlines, for the company's continuing commitment to the museum and
its projects.
I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the exhibitions four curators, who, in the spirit of collaboration
and discovery that has defined this undertaking from its outset, have devoted a substantial amount of their time
and creativity to selecting and writing about the photographs. The difficult task of locating so many photographers
scattered throughoutthe world and bringing to light essential information abouttheir work was accomplished only
through their expertise and dedication. Finally, it is the artists and lenders who have truly made the showing of
these works at the Guggenheim Museum possible. To them I owe my deepest appreciation.