August News//Letter:
Rethinking Art History, Creativity and Colonial History...
- Book Events and New Writing -
Dear friends, colleagues, culture & art lovers,
I hope this email finds you well!
Please, allow me to share with you my latest newsletter.
For more on my writing and reflections about art, music, multiculturalism, post-colonial history, activism, here are a few links and events to come.
Firstly:
Welcome Back Bristol!
Saturday 14th August 2021 18:30 At Waterstones, Bristol - Galleries is very happy to reopen their shop to events!
Join us "local" authors: Martin Booth, Melissa Chemam, Mike Manson and Colin Moody to discuss works on our great city.
Martin is the editor of Bristol24/7 and author of 111 Places in Bristol that you Shouldn't Miss.
Melissa is a journalist, lecturer and author of Massive Attack: Out of the Comfort Zone.
Mike is a local author who has worked on the Bristol Short Story Prize and published several books on the city, including the Bristol Miscellany.
Colin is a photographer whose books document the diversity and spirit of Bristol.
This will be your chance to listen to all four speakers, get a copy of their books signed and enjoy an evening celebrating Bristol.
Free event on Saturday 14 August 2021,18:30 at Waterstones, Bristol - Galleries, register here!
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For more on the Bristol's street art scene, here is my article for Reader's Digest:
In the 80's, Bristol was one of the pioneering graffiti art hotspots in the world. A new exhibition at the M Shed museum in Bristol pays tribute to its history.
Read here.
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Meanwhile, as some of you may know, I worked for a year on a book with and for the art gallery Arnolfini, here in Bristol, as their writer in residence, I'm so excited to share the result!
Here, There... Evenwhere:
African & Diaspora Artists at Arnolfini
The art book will be released in October, and we are organising events, at the gallery, the university and online, to generate a wider discussion.
Some of the artists mentioned are from the UK, others were born in the USA, Trinidad, Jamaica, Montserrat, but also Morocco, Sudan, Algeria, Ethiopia or Ghana... But most of them had to work in the margins, or to form their own groups and find their personal space to be exhibited and deliver another vision of the arts / the world we live in.
Donald Rodney, 'Double Think', 1992
This alternative part of history of art gave me room to try to weave together different parts of the African continent - that I have visited or lived in. The project also retraces the routes that binded Africa with the Americas and Europe over the centuries.
These are themes that have haunted my work as a journalist, researcher and writer since the mid-2000s at least...
'Still I Rise', Arnolfini, 2019
Since the 2000s, many of these artists have been simultaneously exhibiting in London, Liverpool, Nottingham, New York, Berlin, Venice and further. John Akomfrah, Veronica Ryan, Keith Peiper, Donald Rodney, Sonia Boyce, Frank Bowling, Hassan Hajjaj, etc.