In the Summer 2024 issue of African Arts, Dialogue editor Amanda M. Maples posed a number of questions for early career African art historians to which I would like to respond (Maples 2024). I have kept her questions intact and respond to each of them below.I get excited and optimistic each time I reflect on the developments happening on the African continent and among African communities in the diaspora. What gives me hope is the effort artists and various cultural workers are putting into their work and practices, and the ever-expanding networks and communities built on collaboration within our sector.I emerged from a research program led by Professor Ruth Simbao1 at Rhodes University where I met and worked with artists and writers from different parts of Africa and beyond. I got to interact with and engage practices of creatives from nations like Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Namibia, Zambia, Brazil, etc. I also recently travelled across Southern Africa—into Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Zambia—and met with a selection of artists, gaining insights on their work and an appreciation of the various contexts they practice in.2As such, in my response to the posed questions, I shall mainly focus on Southern Africa, a region with which I am more familiar. Additionally, the continent of Africa is vast and diverse, which makes it impossible to cover without generalizing.Most of what I encountered in my travels can only be appreciated when witnessed firsthand—a fuller context can be gained by understanding the circumstances under which such developments are taking place. I will start by mentioning the art scene in Windhoek, Namibia, where The Project Room—a small gallery run by Frieda Lühl and Laschandré Coetzee—is nurturing and exposing the country’s emerging talents, such as Maria Mbereshu and Lynette Musukubili, while maintaining a sense of continuity by working with older artists like Rudolf Seibeb and engaging established cultural workers like PAPA Shikongeni and Jo Rogge. They are also striving to promote Namibian artists in the international scene as evidenced in their participation in the 2022 Investec Cape Town Art Fair and the recently concluded RMB Latitudes Art Fair. The gallery has hosted over sixty exhibitions since its inception in 2016, many of which were solo shows for emerging artists (Nyambi 2024). Also commendable is that they have a working relationship with public institutions like the Namibian Arts Association and the National Art Gallery of Namibia, with whom they at times collaborate.In neighbouring Botswana, young artists, primarily recent graduates from the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town, formed the Botswana Pavilion3 out of the realization that they could do so much more as a mutually supportive unit. Their work was subsequently featured at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) in Cape Town as part of the Unfinished Camp initiative in 2021. Also in Botswana, the Lerato Motswarakgole-run Ora Loapi project is greatly supporting some of the country’s mature talents, like Ntate Lesiga Phillip Segola and the Zimbabwe-born Shepherd Ndudzo, by showcasing their work at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair and FNB Joburg Art Fair, arguably two of the biggest international platforms on the continent. While a lot more is happening in Zambia, the work being done by Taonga Julia Kaseka’s Modzi Arts project in Lusaka deserves special mention. Modzi Arts has become a hub where artists young and old converge and share ideas. It has also become a regular feature at the FNB Joburg Art Fair. In Livingstone, seasoned artists Agnes and Lawrence Yombwe, through their Wayi Wayi initiative, are contributing to change away from the limelight. Wayi Wayi is nurturing young artists from the area, helping to sustain the Mbusa cultural tradition. The family, who have converted their home into an art hub, also offer a residency for international artists, a valuable initiative for exchange.Whenever the story of contemporary art from Zimbabwe is being told, analysts rush to focus on the nation’s Pavilion at the Venice Bienale. While such exposure of the country’s talent is praiseworthy, it is even more exciting that the featured artists have gone on to found independent art spaces and collectives through which they continue to impart ideas, groom young talent, and grow their own practices. Some such spaces include: Chikonzero Chazunguza’s Dzimbanhete Arts and Culture Interactions, Misheck Masamvu and Gina Maxim’s Village Unhu, Admire Kamudzengerere’s Animal Farm, Wallen Mapondera and Marilyn Mushakwe’s Post Studio Collective, Dana Whabira’s Njelele Art Station, and so on (Muchemwa 2020). Their efforts and resilience have allowed them to overcome a toxic and polarizing political environment under a government with priorities that skew or undermine the promotion of art. In neighboring Mozambique, Núcleo de Arte, one of the country’s earliest institutions of modern art, continues to thrive, playing a significant role in the nation’s art sector and providing a space for artists to converge, learn, make art, and exhibit their work. The institution is complemented by a few local galleries and independent spaces like artist Nelsa Guambe’s atelier.These examples inform us that if there will be change in the art sector, it shall come from below and it shall be people-driven. I say this because I do not place faith in the various governments we have in the region and in Africa, especially the liberation war movements still clinging to power in most countries. For if they are not deploying a party cadre as Minister of Arts,4 they are assigning an incompetent individual to the position as a form of demotion. This explains why the arts sector ends up with ministers who have minimal or absolutely no understanding of what the sector is about and what its needs are. I also think it is important to have arts as a stand-alone government department or ministry, rather than be coopted together with the Ministry of Sports, as is the case most of the time.While researching for the When We See Us exhibition at Zeitz MOCAA,5 one of the main challenges we encountered was the lack of documentation in many African countries, outside of South Africa, Nigeria, and a few others. Artists in many countries struggle to document their work, if they even see value in such a process. Additionally, there are few art historians, freelance writers, or critics available to record and evaluate the artistic processes and the work.6 This is where I commend individuals like Zambia’s Andrew Mulenga7 and Zimbabwe’s Nyadzombe Nyampenza,8 who saw the need to document the work of artists in their respective countries on their own blogsites and without any immediate tangible returns. In the same vein, I commend Ana Raquel Machava, Pauline Buhlebenkosi Ndhlovu, Banji Chona, and a group of young writers from across the continent who came together to publish Waithood Magazine. The magazine “explores the intersection between contemporary art, the urban landscape, and the youth experience, interpreting exhibition making and publishing as exciting formats of putting these interests into practice” (WAITHOOD Magazine 2024). With their first issue published in May 2024, my hope is this is going to be a sustainable project.In February 2024, I facilitated the ARAK Art Writing workshop at The Project Room in Windhoek. Thirteen participants from Angola, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe attended. The initiative is aimed at promoting a culture of art writing on the continent. For the second three-day workshop, which took place in Johannesburg, facilitated by Ashraf Jamal, the ARAK Collection partnered with RMB Latitudes during its art fair. Further workshops took place in Kampala, Uganda (August 2024) and West Africa within the same year. The idea of these workshops is to support and train more young people on the continent in writing for and about the arts. The ARAK Collection has also offered art residencies to artists from the beleaguered Sudan, offered fellowship opportunities to writers and curators from various parts of the continent, commissioned artworks in an attempt to revive or sustain artistic careers, and has provided a platform for young writers to publish. What makes this initiative even more compelling is that it models a positive example of fruitful partnerships among nations of the global south. Such a holistic approach is uncommon, if not unique and will hopefully inspire future collectors.Another challenge the continent faces is that there are only a handful of nations with the infrastructure for nurturing young art and museum professionals in Africa. A notable standout is Zeitz MOCAA and the University of the Western Cape (UWC) Museum Fellowship Program, currently in its third year of running. As highlighted on the Zeitz MOCAA website, the pan-African program “endeavours to increase knowledge production around curatorial practice, arts administration and heritage management” (Zeitz MOCAA 2024). The project has up to now enrolled young individuals from different countries, helping to spread much-needed expertise across the continent.There is also a need to educate artists in how to describe their work in written form, such as in artist statements or installation concepts. The ability to articulate their work in their own words shields artists from dealers or organizations who may—whether intentionally or not—take advantage of them. I would go so far as to say that some of these predators are themselves established artists profiting from emerging talent. If one truly appreciates art, I suggest they strive to meet the artist and seek their guidance and input.I would be happy to see more southern African universities teaching visual arts and art history. Moreover, they should engage the local artists. I remember having a conversation with Voti Thebe, an artist and former regional director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, who lamented the fact that while our artists get invited to give lectures at foreign universities, not a single southern African university, except in South Africa, invites them to share their practices with the students (Muvhuti 2022). For a nation like Zimbabwe, it is surprising how its many universities have failed to come up with a meaningful program to complement the outstanding work that local and regional artists are doing.I would also like to see the revival of projects and workshops like Pachipamwe, where artists and writers would meet in remote locations like Cyrene Mission.9 Currently, I do not see any such initiatives in the region. South Africa has the infrastructure and the market, which makes its artists reluctant to collaborate with initiatives and spaces in neighboring countries. Convenings in smaller countries like the kingdoms of Lesotho or Eswatini would help uplift the work of local artists and could further extend to South African artists exhibiting their work in neighbouring countries and vice versa.In studying art history, I realized that there are many unbalanced assertions made by earlier researchers from Western universities over the years. This is not to disrespect and disregard the research carried out in our region. Rather, it is an attempt to challenge young scholars from the region to engage directly with artists and to envision and self-direct counternarratives—for no one can tell our stories better than us.Young scholars have to write and publish more, albeit not always via academic journals that are read by few. They can do so through free online art blogs and publishing platforms. I am fully supportive of alternative methods for generating knowledge, and its availability on platforms and medias more accessible to a general public.In 2021, African Arts published a special issue on blaxTARLINES, edited by Ruth Simbao and Kwaku Boafo Kissiedu (Castro). Following this example, I think African Arts should publish more country-specific and/or initiative- and institution-based editions as a way of documenting and celebrating what is happening in different countries. Each of Africa’s fifty-four countries has a unique art scene and local stories to tell.Curators on the continent should also strive to document every exhibition they work on. Their shows may not necessarily be covered by local writers and journalists, but they should at least be able to organise a simple catalogue in Portable Document Format (PDF). That is not costly.This survey spotlights only a handful of countries and initiatives across Southern Africa, not by any means all—and even more is happening elsewhere on the continent. Similar exciting projects are happening in Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Kampala, and Addis Ababa in East Africa, and in the capitals of North, West, and Central Africa. In countries like Ghana, for example, artistic independent initiatives, institutions and projects are spreading to other cities around the country. What gives me hope of a better future are the Pan-African collaborations happening across the continent and beyond uniting Africans across the world.
Barnabas Ticha Muvhuti (Thu,) studied this question.