Here is a selection of books that offers a diverse range of perspectives on the development and contemporary practices of African art. These books cover a wide range of topics, including the history and development of African art, contemporary art practices on the continent, the role of art in social and political contexts, and the relationships between African artists and the global art world. So, dive in and explore the rich and varied landscape of African art through these recommended reads.
- Àsìkò: On the Future of Artistic and Curatorial Pedagogies in Africa
Àsìkò: On the Future of Artistic and Curatorial Pedagogies in Africa by Bisi Silva chronicles six editions of the Asiko Residency Programme organised by The Centre for Contemporary Art. The first two editions having taken place in Lagos, Nigeria and the subsequent four editions in Accra, Dakar, Maputo, and Addis Ababa, the capitals of Ghana, Senegal, Mozambique and Ethiopia, respectively. It explores many of the themes and issues that have concerned African artists over the last several decades, and offers a foundation for new debates on visual culture in Africa, and methods for articulating, presenting, documenting, and historicising cultural practices in the future. The publication offers bold reflections on the interdisciplinary ethos at the heart of Àsìkò, and considers how diverse formats – including film, literature, theatre, dance and visual art – can be more effectively used in moving forward an appreciation of contemporary art, art history and visual culture across the continent.
- African Art: A Century at Tate by Osei Bonsu
In this book, Osei Bonsu writes engaging profiles of leading African artists—along with gorgeous full-colour reproductions of their work—to introduce readers to a generation of movers and shakers whose innovative artwork reflects on Africa as both an idea and an experience. The use of diverse forms, languages, and expressions to articulate what it means to be a part of the world and how these artists generate alternate histories and imaginative futures is personal and political, universal and incredibly specific. Their work helps define contemporary African art as a vast artistic and cultural movement.
- “When We See Us: Koyo Kouoh” edited by Koyo Kouoh
Koyo Kouoh, curator at Zeitz MOCAA, highlights the ways artists critically engage with notions of blackness, contributing to the critical discourse on topics such as Pan-Africanism, the Civil Rights Movement, African Liberation and Independence movements, the Anti-Apartheid and Black Consciousness mobilizations, Decoloniality, and Black Lives Matter. This publication is to accompany the exhibition happening at Zeitz MOCAA and devoted to Black figuration in painting from the 1920s to now.
- Contemporary African Art Since 1980
Contemporary African Art Since 1980 by Chika Okeke-Agulu and Okwui Enwezor is the first major survey of the work of contemporary African artists from diverse situations, locations, and generations who work either in or outside of Africa, but whose practices engage and occupy the social and cultural complexities of the continent since the past 30 years. Organized in chronological order, the book covers all major artistic mediums: painting, sculpture, photography, film, video, installation, drawing, and collage. It also covers aesthetic forms and genres, from conceptual to formalist, and abstract to figurative practices. Moving between discursive and theoretical registers, the principal questions the book analyzes are: what and when is contemporary African art? Who might be included in the framing of such a conceptual identity? It addresses the question of globalization and contemporary African art.
- Africa Remix: Contemporary Art of a Continent by Simon Njami
Africa Remix is one of the only comprehensive publications on young contemporary art of the last decade in and from Africa. It features more than 80 artists from nearly 30 countries, well representing the geographic diversity of Africa–from Egypt and Morocco to South Africa. Both well-known artists, who are already established in the international scene, as well as new, emerging talents, are included. In an attempt to do justice to the complexity of current artist production, this survey covers film, documentary photography, fashion, music and literature, in addition to the fine arts. Experts in the field comment on the different artistic positions represented and their sources of inspiration. Rather than relying on the traditional categories of postcolonial discourse, this publication concentrates on the “fact of the present” the artworks are seen as an expression of the direct influence of the present on the artist. An illustrated dictionary on the important aspects of African art and culture completes this fascinating study.
