#african art now

[afrotumble]

Over the past two decades contemporary African art has taken its rightful place on the world stage. Today, African artists work outside the confines of limiting categories and outdated perceptions; they produce art that is as much a reflection of Africa's tumultuous past as it is a vision of its boundless future.

Far-reaching in its scope, African Art Now celebrates the diversity and dynamism of the contemporary African art scene across the continent today.

Featuring the work of Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Michael Armitage, Amoako Boafo, Cassi Namoda, Cinga Samson, Zina Saro-Wiwa and many more.

[kreechur-croft]

A funky dude I made for my most beloved coworker

Her favorite animal and color are, of course, zebras & bright dandelion gold.

[almondpiglet]

kabru wips as i figure out how i wanna draw him...

[sunnys-side-upside-down]

Dakota Doodle Page

[xejune]

little request for @bookcalanthedaily of her calanthe & ciri (+ an additional tiny comic), thank you for your patience! ✨

sketches + process shot underneath the cut!

[x-heesy]

𝚁𝚛𝚛𝚛𝚛𝚛𝚁

𝚂𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚑 𝙰𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚃𝚢𝚕𝚊 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝙽𝚞𝚖é𝚛𝚘, 𝙼𝚊𝚢 2024.

𝙵𝚒𝚁𝚎 𝚋𝚢 𝙽𝚒𝚗𝚊 𝙺𝚛𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚣 🇷🇺 🎧

[ngaatee]

For the People Academia Breaks

Hey so I am going to get something off of my chest. Last year I got a postgraduate degree in philosophy and it was actually one of the most devastating experiences of my entire life.

I have always been someone with big ideas, and my favourite aspect of philosophy has always been the way that I can blend different ideas to address current issues, especially if something about those ideas sometimes veer into using my imagination. So when we got to choose our thesis topics, I jumped to do something ambitious, something impressive, something grand. And it was. I posed the following question: What would an African feminist ethic say about posthumanism and transhumanism as it pertains to the right to bodily integrity?

This question meant the world to me. It means the world to me. There was so much to get into, so many ideas, and so little published philosophical work on each section of the question. It was quintessentially me.

Ambitious, important and interesting. And I did fucking do it. I didn't get the high grade that I had hoped for, but I got a high enough average should I pursue further higher education, I had gotten a high grade for a concept I essentially invented and built from the ground up, and I had yet another fucking degree after a year plagued by illness, piss poor mental health, worse financial management and not a damn clue what I would do next.

I had also excelled in my other classes and so I was going to take the win and move on. I was in a space where what mattered to me was that I had what I needed for the next steps. Academia career, and somehow reforming education, those have been my goals forever, So I had my grades and set out to get reference letters and one person I asked was my supervisor. And that, dear reader, was when it all went to shit and my mental health sunk to a new low.

My supervisor and I had not had major conflict but I was ready to move on for a variety of reasons. I had tutored one of her classes and had reservations about her methodology and when opportunities for feedback came, I was as honest but diplomatic as possible. I was not the lecturer. When she became my supervisor I had looked in the guide and I had thought that she was going to be the right fit. But in some ways I always felt that my work was not my own, and often times my work became a site of ego. But it could have been worse so I was going to move on and take those lessons to do things differently next time.

So I emailed her, was happy to have the grades for a future in academia and asked for the referral. She emailed me and gave me unsolicited feedback and then openly stated that a section of my work "surprised her, and not in a good way". I will be frank, it disgusted me. I read it and my skin crawled because she had been a less than stellar supervisor, including being angered when I got an extension after my hospitalization, threatening to not even give me a grade, when the HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT granted me one.

I was a star pupil, with the exploratory ideas to back it up, and consistently she undermined me and I forgave her every time because of how badly I wanted it. And then in the last moment, after I toiled on a thesis and made it through with a high GPA, she could not let me be happy. She could not let me rejoice that every single day last year felt like I was taking my dying breath, And she could not be the kind of supervisor that deserved my bright ideas, my desire to learn, my ambition. I was told that I should prep a version of my paper for a conference and she never had the time to help me, everyday there was an excuse, and I still made it, and she could not just let us be cordial and move on.

That thesis I did is my first child. I laboured, I read, and I thought it through, and I was willing to accept the imperfections that came in my crafting of it because it was powerful and meaningful. I am an African woman, concerned with how we understand our autonomy and our bodies and what that means in a greater philosophical context. I chose a thesis that meant something to me, and I used whatever philosophical building blocks I could to bring it together, and achieved a feat that people thought might be impossible for me. And I am damn proud of it. And in that email, my supervisor didn't care because she felt embarrassed or something.

I have spent a year being angry. How dare she? Especially since academia puts certain kinds of constraints on work and even with those constraints, I made lemonade out of lemons. In fact, I made lemonade out of rocks. And I have grieved and been sad and it has broken my spirit remembering the disdain in that email. And then the later email with the reference letter where I discover that after all this time, my supervisor knows nothing about me.

She doesn't know my worth, she doesn't know how much her class benefitted from having me as a tutor, and my fellow tutor too. She doesn't know anything that other institutions would love about me. Her colleagues do though. They gave me beautiful letters that reflected my passion, honesty, and integrity, and I felt seen. I wish that I had gotten one of them to be my supervisor, I just didn't know any better, it was a new university, a new city, with new people. But my thesis, my baby, would have been so much safer and cared for in their hands.

But I am not ending it like that. I have started to embark on a multimedia art project revisiting and expanding my thesis and I am explaining different philosophical and sociological concepts that are relevant to it as I go along. Because my thesis belongs to me. My ideas belong to me. And the projections of my supervisor, and the painful memories that are attached to it for me will not under any circumstances, end with her defining my thesis for me.

My thesis is my baby, my child and I am proud of it. Its words live in me, its ideas still are a fixation in my mind, and now I have what it takes to really bring it to the next level. And so I will. I do not just love my thesis as a cute baby that people admire and call beautiful. I love my thesis as a petulant older child that sometimes struggles to string ideas that are linked but in ways that are not obvious. I love my thesis as a teenager lost in despair trying to reconcile how a society functions and the philosophies and ideologies that underpin it, the teenager reading social and political thought for the first time. I love my thesis as the young adult that has more questions than answers. I love my thesis as all of the people I have been and whom I will be.

Academia broke my heart. and it devastated many people befor me. But many ideas are worth exploring. Many ideas are worth cradling in a warm blanket and developing over time. Your ideas and mine, are worth so much more than the egos and power of people around us, and they do not get to rob our work of its dignity. And we do not have to leave the brilliance of our thoughts with the memories of people who never cared to understand them. And so I am coming back for my child, I am returning for my thesis. Because I am willing to spend time with it, and nurture it, and develop it. I am ready for it to one day be in the world and standing on its own.

The words of my thesis live in me, but the words of my thesis will live beyond me. And so as I drawm paint, photograph and write for this multimedia art project. As the young mother of this thesis and this combination of ideas, I will be raw and approach it with care, consideration and thoughtfulness. and hopefully, my thesis will find the right people who are interested in philosophy, sociology and the arts. Because this thesis will always be my baby, and I hope it meets people that love it and see it for what it is, the way that I do.

I dedicate this multimedia art project to the people whose first heartbreak was being alienated from their ideas in service of other people's desires. May you always find your way back to that child who wondered so much about the world, and was eager to learn more.

[stellapuffs]

Day 3: Something you’d like to eat right now

[susanaesono]

When the muse strikes, you flow!

[zooblenation]

human version of my cnd ocs i have that r lying around……perfect 2 me . i love you nightmare polycule

[frostbite-the-bat]

this is how I imagine their dynamic being like

[skipp3r]

they make us read west centered colonizer mindset shit. How can you as an art historian reduce egyptian culture to “egypt like” bro😭

[mothbug]

the approximate time period of eve2 is ???? <-old timey but all over the place but i am also just putting this woman in full 1400s wear (except with little charm beads and friendship bracelets). anyway does anyone have any name ideas or ideas for birds she could be based on

[hotmess-exe]

I just read a comment on an afropop music video saying "Nigerians are carrying the continent"

man, it's one thing when everyone else does it. but I BETTER NOT start seeing Africans conflating Nigeria The Nation with Africa The Continent. THEY don't see a difference in our art or music or histories or cultures or tribes or languages because Africa is still a fucking country to most non-Africans. but YOU, fellow African. You know the fuck better.

I had better the fuck not see that bullshit. being most visible or most recognizable on the global stage just means you're winning a popularity contest. Popularity ≠ Quality. And especially not in a popularity contest thrown by a world that never has and continues not to value our lives, our autonomy, and ESPECIALLY our arts and culture.

[sunnys-side-upside-down]

How about Dakota in space?

Dakota in Space!!!

[artofapeach]

I just don’t like how hazbin hotel is hint that heaven is evil. Not only it a predictable cliche it also insult to actually people who believe in god. But if you want to do evil heaven just use adina from zoophobia.

I don’t think they’re hinting that it’s evil? Just complex. Just like Hell is complex.

I mean, it’s not possible for a place to be absolutely perfect. Perfect doesn’t exist! So there HAS to be something wrong with Heaven. It’s just that their intention is to give a safe place to humans after they die, which makes them the “good” place, while Hell doesn’t give a shit.

We’ve only seen one inkling of Heaven after all! If nothing else, Collin’s character shows that there are some people there who want to do good.

Also, there’s nothing wrong with predictable cliches 🤷🏽‍♀️ Hazbin and Helluva have surprised me plenty already, so I think they can have a predictable cliche or two. As a treat :)

For the people who actually believe in the Christian god…then maybe they shouldn’t watch the show? There’s been so much anime that’s done plenty worse. And likely Viv came from Christianity and it’s a critique to how it works and it effected her. I mean, that’s what I always assumed from the start and I could ALWAYS be wrong, but Christianity has done some harm with people’s psyche, especially those who are queer. Hazbin and Helluva are a way to critique that.

And Zoophobia Heaven can’t be used because…it’s a different story. As far as I know, they don’t take place in the same universe anymore. Honestly, it’d be pretty weird if they did w

It’s okay if it bothers you! I don’t wanna downplay that at all. But with serialized stories, you kinda just have to wait and see how they handle things before jumping to conclusions. If that’s difficult to do, it may be best to avoid the show until it’s finished and have someone tell you how Heaven turns out, so that you can make sure it’s safe for you :)