It is a man. It is a woman. It is neither. It pulls tight up to its neck the lines, dots and fractals of traditional West African mud cloth – the sacred geometries reflected like stars, like water – like ancient cosmologies on its face. Hair cropped close to the scalp, a blonde like Beninoir gold. A black. A white. A gold in between. Hold it in your mouth a little longer.
In a file of audio recordings archived from a London-based arts hub active in the ’70s, exiled South African writer Lewis Nkosi interviews the Sudanese painter Ibrahim El-Salahi and the East African artist and thinker Elimo Njau at FESMAN, the first ever pan-African festival of the arts held in Dakar, Senegal, in 1966. They discuss the relatively new and divisive concept of Negritude, a term imagined and theorised by the pan-African surrealists Aimé Cesairé, Léopold Sédar Senghor (the first president of Senegal) and Léon Damas. It is tense: El-Salahi is trying Negritude on. A new skin, perhaps ill-fitting. ‘The first time I heard the word Negritude, it gave me a strange feeling. And I had to chew it for some time to see what taste it had. And I must admit that when I came here, I came with a little bit of prejudice. And I realised that what I’ve seen here, it hasn’t nothing to do … it has no implication with the racial thing in itself, as much it has to do with a cultural thing.’ The painter takes the term, turns over with his tongue, rolls it hard against his palate. He holds it in his mouth a little longer.
Toyin Ojih Odutola is a Nigerian-born artist who works across multiple mediums. In ‘Hold It In Your Mouth A Little Longer’ and ‘LTS III’, markings score cloth, score skin. She dashes, hyphens, commas, dots. She hieroglyphs the traditional scarification of a tribe we might know, but whose name we have not learnt to pronounce.
Born in Nigeria, raised in Alabama, schooled in San Francisco and now based in New York, the multiplicities of the artist’s geopolitics are contemplated, complicated and reflected in her work.
この記事は House and Leisure の November 2018 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は House and Leisure の November 2018 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
At The Breakfast Table With Jonty Rhodes And Family
Recently renovated, the historic Cape Town home of Jonty and Melanie Rhodes is an adaptable base for an active, clean-eating clan of six
LUNCH IN THE GARDEN with siblings Bronwyn and Jonathan Cane
Alfresco gatherings are the order of the day at this updated century-old semi – the home of a design-centric sister and brother in Brixton, Joburg
IN THE KITCHEN with Karen Dudley and family
For Karen Dudley, food informs the family dynamic and her home is as multilayered and as delicious a delight as her colourful personality and cooking style
THE TRADITIONAL KITCHEN
The perfect piece to pull together a country-style kitchen is a beautiful wooden table that will age with time and hold its place in the memories made around it.
IN THE FRAME
'The history of architecture is the history of the struggle for light.’
DRINKS AT THE TABLE with David Cope and Donné Bullivant
A dream kitchen renovation meant wine lovers Dave Cope and Donné Bullivant could finally settle down in their wondrously moody City Bowl apartment
THE MODULAR KITCHEN
DECOR TIP Modular elements like these USM Haller systems are a great way to create interesting, non-permanent storage that can be customised to your needs.
SUPPER IN THE BARN with the Thatenhorst family
Munich-based interior designer Stephanie Thatenhorst transformed the barn at her parents’ farm in Bavaria into an eclectic family retreat
BREAKING BREAD
The pendulum has swung back for this nutritious, crusty staple of flour, yeast, water and time – the much-beloved artisanal loaf
SNACKS ON THE TERRACE with sisters Vicky Crease and Maira Koutsoudakis
The traditional Cycladic home of dynamic sisters Vicky Crease and Maira Koutsoudakis on the island of Serifos is a reminder of what it means to be a part of a close-knit family