Money in Bamako & London @ British Museum

Harandane Dicko (2012)

For the last couple of months, I’ve had the pleasure to be involved in the collaborative photography exhibition Money in Bamako and London. This is the second in a series of projects begun last year by curator Sophie Mew, in which two photographers, one from London and one from Bamako, come together to explore a range of themes in everyday contexts in each city. The exhibitions travel to both capitals, developing cultural exchange between the UK and Mali and offering glimpses of local life to museum-goers in both places.

For the first edition in 2011, Malian photographer Alioune Bâ and UK photographer Diane Patrice examined parallels between London and Bamako. Their images and stories of taxi drivers, football matches and tea-drinking showed that although in many ways the cities are very different, day-to-day activities for Londoners and Bamakois can be surprisingly similar.

In 2012, however, the project sadly finds itself in a rather different situation: in the light of the crisis in Mali following the recent coup d’état, and the ongoing political upheavals, what can artistic exchange projects offer? After much deliberation, Bamako & London has decided to go ahead for a second year, responding to the situation by offering a platform for ongoing exchange at a time of economic instability for inhabitants of both cities. Diane Patrice is this time joined by Bamako photographer Harandane Dicko to explore the theme of ‘Money’, coinciding with the opening of the new Money Gallery at the British Museum.

As Sophie explained, consultation with friends and colleagues in Bamako revealed the importance of keeping creative channels of communication open, even during times of crisis: “It has been a difficult decision to continue this year with regards to the current political situation in Mali since the putsch on 22nd March. The encouragement and support we have received has influenced our decision to continue. Diane has captured the uses of money in different contexts around London, and Harandane has exposed the effects of economic instability and the result of sanctions imposed on Mali in April 2012.” Interviews, captions and stories from residents of both cities highlight the personal costs of national and international crises, as well as the rich reserves of ingenuity and resilience that people draw on to pull through.

The launch is this Friday evening from 5.30 til 8.30, at the British Museum (Clore Education Centre Foyer). Hope to see you there!

For more info about Money in Bamako and London, take a look at the website. This display is part of the London Festival of Photography – see posts coming up on this site, as well as their own website.

Show:
1st June – 1st July, except 12th/13th, 19th/20th, 25th/26th June. FREE.

Opening hours:
Daily, 10-5.30 (late opening until 8.30 on Fridays)

Clore Education Centre Foyer, British Museum
Great Russell Street, London
WC1B 3DG

Abdoulaye Konaté @ Iniva

Window Commission at Rivington Place - Abdoulaye Konaté (2011)

Abdoulaye Konaté’s window commission at Rivington Place is up! And, after a visa-related delay which meant he was unable to attend his scheduled talk earlier this week, the artist will now be participating in an informal chat and drinks at Rivington Place tomorrow, Friday 9 December, from 5-6pm.

Incidentally, on the vexed subject of artist visas, I recently heard about this campaign, which aims to tackle the strict new visa regulations introduced in the last couple of years, and advocates for greater freedom of movement across borders for artists. You can read and sign the petition here – take a look.

Iniva
Rivington Place, London
EC2A 3BA

Abdoulaye Konaté @ Iniva

Work in progress - Abdoulaye Konaté's studio, Bamako, Mali (2011)

In November this year, I was lucky enough to visit Bamako, Mali, for the Rencontres – the ‘Encounters’ – where, every two years, many of Africa’s best photographers and video artists come together to show their work, share ideas, and meet some of the world’s top curators and gallerists. Now in its ninth edition, the biennale is becoming a firm fixture in the international contemporary art calendar, and is recognised as one of the best opportunities to see a lot fresh and exciting photographic work from the continent, on the continent. This time around, the main show’s theme was ‘for a sustainable world’, and much of the work duly considered the problems of environmental degradation, oil exploitation, slums, waste and non-sustainable livelihoods. Hard though it is to get a sense of an artist’s practice from just a few pieces, there was definitely some interesting stuff on display; I especially enjoyed taking another look at Daniel Naudé’s animal portraits (last seen on a conference projector screen), and, in a quite different set of portraits, Khalil Nemmaoui’s trees. Elsewhere, fragile archival images by the great Malick Sidibé were a highlight, as was a ghostly black-and-white account of postcolonial Ghana’s encounter with its past, courtesy of Nii Obodai.

Meanwhile, the varied OFF programme presented a number of diversions to tempt participants away from the main events, and top of my list was a studio visit with renowned Malian artist Abdoulaye Konaté. Perhaps the organisers sensed that this would be a popular option: seemingly in an attempt to put off all but the most persistent, accepting Konaté’s enticement to ‘viens chez moi’ involved navigating an obstacle course of confusing addresses (leading to other, less exciting studios-cum-gift-shops), scarce information leaflets, incompetent taxi drivers and barely intelligible phone calls. As it was, after about an hour of circling aimlessly in a bumpy, sweaty taxi, we arrived in the nick of time and, glugging on our cold water bottles, watched as Konaté’s team brought out piece after stunning piece. Having trained as a painter, Konaté now works with textiles. With swathes of colourful strips, funny little sausage-like appendages or even children’s clothes sewn onto the background, his works are beautifully intricate, and moving in their straightforward yet thoughtful engagement with political realities.

And so, to the point: while I was there, I caught a glimpse of what will be Iniva’s new window commission, on view at Rivington St from the 7th December. Even in its unfinished state, it was easy to get a sense of how impressive the work will be once complete. So I really recommend heading down to Iniva some time over the next month to check it out. There’s also an opportunity to hear the artist talk about his work at Iniva on 6th December at 6.30 (admission free).

Show:
7th December – 3rd January

Iniva
Rivington Place, London
EC2A 3BA

Les Fantomes @ Jack Bell Gallery

Aboudia (2011)

Jack Bell has moved – and how. The gallery has fled the coach-infested thoroughfares of Victoria, and re-emerged in the vastly more genteel surroundings of the West End’s Mason’s Yard. As a statement of intent, it could hardly be clearer; Mason’s Yard was the location of the legendary Indica Gallery where John Lennon met Yoko Ono, and is now home to the likes of White Cube. Bell means business.

Jack opens up his new gallery with a group show of painting, photography and sculpture from West and Central Africa, featuring several of the artists who graced the walls of his first space in Victoria: Aboudia, Leonce Raphael Agbodjélou, Paa Joe and Hamidou Maiga are brought together with newcomers Afedzi Hughes and Bandoma under the title Les Fantomes. Go and take a look.

Private view:
Weds 21 Sept, 7-9

Show:
22 Sept – 29 Oct

Opening hours:
Tues-Sat, 10-6

Jack Bell Gallery
13 Mason’s Yard, St. James’s, London
SW1Y 6BU

Bamako & London @ October Gallery

Images from Bamako & London (Alioune Bâ and Diane Patrice)

Described as a ‘collaborative exhibition of exchanges’, Bamako & London is that rare thing: a show of contemporary art from Africa which will be on view on the continent, as well off it. A partnership between two photographers, Diane Patrice (London, UK) and Alioune Bâ (Bamako, Mali), the exhibition features twenty portraits of everyday life, accompanied by projections of CCTV-style footage from both cities. It’s on for just a week at the October Gallery from this Tuesday, and will travel to the Musée de Bamako in Mali at the end of September 2011.

And a quick reminder: Nnenna Okore’s wonderful sculptures are also currently on show in the main space at the OG, so don’t forget to check them out too.

Show: 17th-25th May

Opening hours:
12.30-5.30

October Gallery
24 Old Gloucester Street, Bloomsbury, London
WC1N 3AL

Hamidou Maiga @ Jack Bell

Hamidou Maiga (date unknown)

More ace African photography for your perusal – this time it’s the turn of Bamako-based photographer Hamidou Maiga, with Talking Timbuktu. This will be Jack Bell’s third exhibition of studio photography from Africa, following the success of Seydou Keïta and Leonce Raphael Agbodjélou last year.

Although the show’s title cunningly plays up the mysterious allure of Timbuktu (where Maiga trained as a mason as a young man, and ran a studio in the 1960s), the photographer was actually born in 1932 in Bobodioulasso, Burkina Faso, and has been working from photography hot-spot Bamako since 1973. Taking in everyone from villagers to dignitaries, his images offer a glimpse of some of the spectacular changes in Malian society over the last half a century, following independence from France, economic expansion and the rising popularity of Western fashions. Like the work of his contemporary and friend, Malick Sidibé, Maiga’s portraits combine evocative portrayals of individuals with a powerful sense of the ideas and dreams framing their everyday lives, in a country becoming increasingly connected with the wider world.

There’s an interview with Maiga at AnOther Magazine, available online here.

The show continues until 30th April.

Opening hours:
Wed–Sat, 12–6

Jack Bell Gallery
276 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London
SW1V 1BB

Vodou | Magic | Juju @ Jack Bell

Panels from triptych by unknown artist, Benin (date unknown)

Jack Bell’s latest offering features paintings by Beninese painter Cyprien Tokoudagba, alongside two triptychs from a Vodou fetish market (also from Benin), and masks from people living in Central Western Mali.

Taking ‘vodou’ as its theme, this perplexing show hints at all sorts of things without giving much away – what stories, beliefs and desires went through the minds of the creators of these heads without bodies, and bodies without heads? How can we read the frankly-painted panels declaring ‘syphilis’ and other sexually transmitted afflictions – as warnings or cures, as educational or spiritual devices? What connections and conversations might there be between the pieces?

Given the anonymity of these works in their white-cube surroundings, we have only the brief gallery blurb and our own imaginations to rely on – perhaps we shall never know. For further clues on some of the paintings, however, you can track down some interesting biographical nuggets on the artist Tokoudagba (b. 1939), who works as a restorer at the Museum of Abomey. He began his international career as an artist at the famed Magiciens de la Terre exhibition in Paris in 1989, and has since had a variety of solo and group shows – more info on him can be found here.

The show continues until 12th March

Opening hours:
Wed-Sat, 12-6

Jack Bell Gallery
276 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London
SW1V 1BB