Presentation Title
Degree Program
Undergraduate
Major
Art & Architecture History
Abstract
In his essay, “The cultural biography of things,” Igor Kopytoff writes about the ways in which objects have and develop cultural biographies. From the time of their creation, and subsequent adoption into society, man-made objects acquire “social lives” through the various economic, historic, environmental and political intensities in which they “experience.” Current trends for global contemporary artists, especially those working from an African sensibility, explore the materiality of objects, examining their layered identities and social lives. Artists thus consider how materials have loaded and layered histories and biographies. While economic factors force consumers to reuse, it is the creative impulse that intrigues and pulls the artist toward the notion of how old and used objects “live and breathe” nuanced meanings.
This paper explores the art of three contemporary artists from Africa: El Anatsui, Gonçalo Mabunda, and Fally Sene Sow. Specifically, I analyze their distinctive approaches in employing found objects in their art and the ability their art has to transform and expand the existing biographies of their selected objects and materials. In their work, these artists respond to themes of globalization, urbanization, political unrest, and heightened consumerism, while asserting their own cultural heritage and artistic styles. I demonstrate these artists select and repurpose materials based on their biographies in order to bring to life the significant social and historic spaces in which their selected objects “lives and engages.”
Start Date
12-2-2016 10:30 AM
End Date
12-2-2016 11:50 AM
Included in
Reframe, Reuse, Recycle: The Found Object in Post-Colonial Africa, Recontextualized by Contemporary Artists
In his essay, “The cultural biography of things,” Igor Kopytoff writes about the ways in which objects have and develop cultural biographies. From the time of their creation, and subsequent adoption into society, man-made objects acquire “social lives” through the various economic, historic, environmental and political intensities in which they “experience.” Current trends for global contemporary artists, especially those working from an African sensibility, explore the materiality of objects, examining their layered identities and social lives. Artists thus consider how materials have loaded and layered histories and biographies. While economic factors force consumers to reuse, it is the creative impulse that intrigues and pulls the artist toward the notion of how old and used objects “live and breathe” nuanced meanings.
This paper explores the art of three contemporary artists from Africa: El Anatsui, Gonçalo Mabunda, and Fally Sene Sow. Specifically, I analyze their distinctive approaches in employing found objects in their art and the ability their art has to transform and expand the existing biographies of their selected objects and materials. In their work, these artists respond to themes of globalization, urbanization, political unrest, and heightened consumerism, while asserting their own cultural heritage and artistic styles. I demonstrate these artists select and repurpose materials based on their biographies in order to bring to life the significant social and historic spaces in which their selected objects “lives and engages.”