The Kaddu Wasswa Archive | Andrea Stultiens, Kaddu Wasswa John, Arthur C. Kisitu

Christmas tea party at KW's residency in Katwe, the start of Youth Day, 1957 (spread from The Kaddu Wasswa Archive)

The contested and, at times, controversial ‘discovery’ of the work of Malian photographer Seydou Keita in the 1990’s acutely highlighted some of the difficulties that can accompany the First World consumption of Third World imagery. The dislocation between his modest, functional and inexpensive contact prints, and the feted portraiture that graced the walls of New York’s Gagosian Gallery, could not help but obscure many of the works’ more telling conditions of production, and indeed their less exalted, more prosaic meanings. As one academicdescribed it, ‘During their journey around the world, Keita’s photographs have transformed their social, cultural and political meaning, according to the explicit and implicit intentions of some Western agents. Keita’s photographs have been transformed into market products and their symbolic value changed encountering new audiences.’


Arthur C Kisitu and KW with part of the archive (spread from The Kaddu Wasswa Archive)

So far, so familiar. But the question remains - how might a (photographic) archive be best made accessible to audiences that are culturally, geographically, and - inevitably, it seems - economically remote? The fascinating Kaddu Wasswa Archive, co-authored by photographers Andrea Stultiens and Arthur Kisitu, and the eponymous Kaddu Wasswa John, provides many pointers. The Ugandan Kaddu Wasswa (the ‘John’ appears optional) is described in the book’s dustjacket as a ‘peasant farmer and anti HIV / AIDS activist,’ but he is much more besides. Born in 1933 he has worked as a civic leader, dramatist, critic and fundraiser; he founded the first youth club in the country; he invented the ‘revolutionary’ curry powder Ntula Spices; he served as an usher at a state wedding; he was employed by Esso Standard East Africa, and British American Insurance; messenger, apprentice, clerk, treasurer and shopkeeper... it might be easier to identify positions he has not held. Not the least of his achievements is to have assembled an idiosyncratic archive chronicling his own, and related, activities in the years following Uganda’s bid for independence from Britain. It is this archive - comprising boxes, collages, records, writings and a biographical record book - that Andrea Stultiens presents alongside portraits of its subject, and contemporary Ugandan photographs. 


Spread from The Kaddu Wasswa Archive
The result is an energetic, multi-faceted and fragmentary account of a life and a time. Kaddu Wasswa’s fondness for Jamie Reid-style ransom note collages adds a bizarrely anarchic tenor to snipped headlines and slogans: This is the way of...Improving the Image; LEARN TO enterprete OUR Customs  Logically; jUMPright out. An introductory autobiography describes him as ‘a frustrated Voluntary Social Worker with a unique record of “Firsts” in Uganda’s NGO activities.’ Thereafter he details a series of enterprises and initiatives - ranging from the import of Pepsi Cola umbrellas (to add ‘style’ to youth club events), to appearances on Japanese TV and radio (to promote his work in agriculture). Whatever the merits or significance of such events, the fact of their inclusion is indicative of the presence of Kaddu Wasswa amongst the book’s authorial voices. This is important; it bears on those issues raised by the treatment of Keita’s negatives. For as Kaddu writes elsewhere: ‘Usually people do not write their own history. Some people are given a history that is not really theirs. But who can oppose and prove otherwise?’


Spread from The Kaddu Wasswa Archive

His is not the only voice here though. There are many contemporary photographs by Stultiens and Wasswa’s grandson, Arthur Kisitu, describing not only the Archive’s subject and author, but also, self-referentially, the process by which he and his work are being made into a new, marketable commodity - a photobook (intelligently designed throughout, by the way). So the African documents and pages from Wasswa’s archival boxes are frequently reproduced here in Stultiens’ white, First World hands. Wasswa himself is shown sifting through files, holding negatives to the light, working with his new collaborators. Nominally this is a book about one man, and Uganda's nascent independence, yet it succeeds in addressing broader, less local themes: the construction of archives, the handling of history, and the consumption of the past.

Guy Lane


The Kaddu Wasswa Archive, A Visual Biography
Andrea Stultiens, Kaddu Wasswa John, Arthur C. Kisitu
Publ Post Editions

Skoto Gallery - Drawings from Contemporary African Artists

SKOTO GALLERY 529 West 20th Street, 5FL. New York, NY 10011 212-352 8058 info@skotogallery.com   www.skotogallery.com

Uche Okeke, Beggar,1963, charcoal on paper,15.5x11.5 inches. Drawings Jose Bedia, Dudley Charles, Victor Ekpuk, Vladimir Cybil Charlier Bernard Guillot, Richard Hunt, Osaretin Ighile, Michael Marshall Uche Okeke, Ibrahim El Salahi, Sumayyah Samaha, Juliana Zevallos December 8th, 2011 – January 21st, 2012 Skoto Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of drawings by an international group of established and emerging artists. The opening reception is Thursday, December 8th, 6-8pm. This show will include more than three dozen works on paper made in a wide variety of media, including ink, graphite, watercolor, and collage that offer unique insights into the thought and work processes of the exhibiting artists. These are phenomenal works in their own right, and they also provide a link between their other works in painting, sculpture and architecture. Despite their varied experiences, personal cultural backgrounds and styles their approach to drawing is through a contemporary experience, their metaphysics is distinctly new and refreshing, celebrating the moment of apprehension and the fugitive moment of response with a few traces of ink or a few strokes of the pencil. Among the works included in the exhibition is a selection of six exceptionally strong drawings from the early 1960’s by the Nigerian artist Uche Okeke (b. 1933), whose exhibition “Another Modernity: Works on Paper by Uche Okeke”, Newark Museum in February-July, 2006 was highly acclaimed. This will be the first US exhibition of these drawings. Renowned for his immense contribution to the development of modern Nigerian art and pioneering visual experimentations with traditional Igbo Uli mural and body design, Uche Okeke’s early drawings in graphite, charcoal or ink are pure meditations upon the nature of line itself. A master of lyrical and sensitive lines, he uses resplendent curves and fluid lines to convey the true harmonies of his artistic vision. Also included is a selection of ink drawings by the Cuban-born artist Jose Bedia (b. 1959) that reactivate imagery drawn from the most diverse ancient, geographical, historical and cultural horizons, he utilizes a particular rigor and economy of line in his work that encourages a clarity of intent and simplicity of execution. Bedia says of his work - It is an attempt at communication and community between the material and spiritual universe of “modern” man and that of “primitive” man. There is a lyrical beauty in the recent large-scale drawings of Dudley Charles (Guyana, South America) that belies its surprising seamlessness between the spiritual and physical worlds. He draws from both figuration and abstraction, combined with a wide spectrum of cultural references to expand the medium’s definition in relation to gesture and form. There is a sense of value for spontaneity and improvisation that engages the viewer directly and viscerally as ideas are distilled into swirling or meandering lines in his work. The Lebanese-born artist Sumayyah Samaha’s series of charcoal drawings titled “Portrait of Iraq”, 2004-2006 explores the vulnerability of humanity caught in a state of ruin as a result of the US invasion of Iraq. The delicate nature of her drawings allow the viewer to be initially drawn into them, and upon closer examination one is almost taken aback by the realization that such fragility also convey atrocities of war, destruction and death. Her work also demonstrates mastery of the use of charcoal with such subtlety that reveals the incredible possibilities of the medium as soft fields of gray become backgrounds for her abstract and organic forms, creating an aura of magic and playfulness. Samaha’s work goes beyond the political and emotional turmoil of our confused world, emoting, instead, an almost surreal, exotic world that creates a tantalizing sense of belonging.

Zenzele Chulu - Schmatic Tantrums

Man and Machine: The Art of Kelani Abass

Man and Machine: The Art of Kelani Abass

Obidike Okafor | AfricanColours.com

The views of any engineer about machines might just change with the new offerings Kelani Abass has been showing, at the Omenka Gallery in Ikoyi, Lagos. In his second solo exhibition titled “Man and Machine” Abass takes viewers on a roll through a new body of work that involves gears wheels, colours, print and stories told through machines. Kelani Abass, was born in 1979 and has been a full time studio artist since graduating from YABATECH in 2007. His works explore human figures and mythology, the best Painting student in 2007 at YABATECH has featured in about 16 group shows.

 

Abass worked in his father’s printing press throughout his primary school and secondary school. He grew his creative side and worked the machines while at the press until he left for Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, in 2002 to study art.  “It is fascinating to observe the way machines operate as different parts, to achieve a common goal. This informs my thinking and ideas, and thus inspires my art in this direction. Most of my early works seem to fall within the Naturalistic figurative genre, they reflects socio-political and economic realities of the Nation, creating a platform for my new works, which evolves more metaphoric in nature” Abass says about his new works

 

 

_{Man and machine (Politics of Godfatherism)}

 

His  new paintings, drawings and sound installation are indeed a metaphor he uses to describe how machines make work easier. Some of the paintings and drawings are divided in series there is the “Man and machine series” were he lays emphasis on the way by which wheels, as singular units, propel movement in machines, all working together to achieve a common end result, and the “Illusion” series were the digital camera as a machine inspire these set of drawings.  “This (Man and machine series) illustratively reflects the basic need for individuals to work together as one, with combinative and compensative efforts, to achieve their objectives. We need one another to survive as a team, with synergetic efforts to make our dreams, visions, goals and aspirations, as a common people, come true. I also use patches of red, green and orange following the traffic light system in some of the works to show when to move, when to stop and when to get ready” he said.

 

 According to the artist, the “Illusions” series are drawings based on photographic reproduction, with the help of processes like enlargement or slow motion, processes controlled by machines that capture images which escape natural vision. These works wake the mind to the realities of time and space, the way the past is brought into the future by stored images, then tomorrow which we base the whole of our existence never really exists. “We must learn to stop seeing something which is actually not there, conquer illusion then we will know reality, once we can see behind the curtain of illusion and find the true reality, we can only transcend the illusion of being a physical thing to a spiritual entity” Abass says.

 

 

_{Man and Machine I}

 

 When “Man and machine” opens a different side of this multimedia artist will be seen as the pieces on display are a complete departure from his solo “Paradigm shift”. Normally there is always the fear of the new but Abass is comfortable with where he is going to as an artist. “While in school you have to do what your lecturer wants you to do. The school system does not allow freedom and it affects your creativity. My first solo exhibition ‘Paradigm shift’ was a combination of what I learnt in school and what I had learnt on my own. Moving into conceptual works allows me to say more using non conventional ways of working,” he explained. 

 

The winner of the  Caterina de Medici painting competition organised as part of the Black Heritage Festival, Lagos in 2010, will have 25 works set up with sounds made by various machines while at work will provide the ambience;  bringing the paintings and drawings to life. The work entitled Man and machine (Baba Ijebu),  is done on a grey back ground and  has lotto numbers covering certain parts of the surface with two wheels being held by a spool, and as seen on the lotto boards of the popular Baba Ijebu some of the numbers are circled. 

 

“This work shows how we allow machines decide our future. I asked the young people who play the lotto in front of my house questions about how the lotto works and they told me that the machine picks the winning number” Abass said about Man and machine (Baba Ijebu).

 

In Man and Machine (I) the general composition is dominantly grey on two panels that are held together by emblems of technology (gears, wheels), with city outlines dancing long the edges of the canvass. In the composition entitled Man and machine (Politics of Godfatherism),  the work is done on two joined canvasses that are bonded by a cluster of wheels and gear systems connected by a spool. On two ends of the gears are black and white small portraits of a past head of state. On the lower part of the canvass are   groups of people, representing the populace. The background has a hue closer   to neutral gray with patches of red, blue and green on the edges. 

 

 

_{Man and Machine, (Baba Ijebu)}

 

Man and Machine IV (Politics of God fatherism), talks about the way past leaders still remain relevant in determining who rules the country,” Abass said. In the composition entitled Tussle (a diptych), a plane is broken into two equal segments connected by a rope, at the end of each spool are arms tugging the rope, with patches of red, blue, green and yellow forming a hedge around the arms.  In Man and Machine (Peace) is made up of three panels with a an arm is turning the handle on one of the gears  while a white dove sits on top of the connecting wheel on the third panel. 

 

Man and Machine (Time past), Man and Machine (synergy) and Man and Machine (Governance and Entrepreneur) follow the same orientation with gears, wheels, spindles and hands.  Done in acrylic, oil, charcoal and paper collage that hint at the story of printing, and the colours used also mimic paper. The images in Illusions series look more like hazy photographs. The distorted pictures of a child’s face, an adult’s face and a blurred image of a child drinking water are a part of this body of work.

 

Machines save time, with the print technology being one of the first to use machines the artist takes advantage of this experience to discuss themes in terms of concepts. “I want to use this exhibition to show people new ways of doing art. I also want to educate people about printing and machines. It is difficult at times as an artist to represent ideas especially when combining art and engineering” Abass said. 

 

 

_{Man and Machine, Time}

 

The body of work is an undeniable love and attachment to the trade of printing. Childhood experiences as a machine operator and his creative process, is what he uses as a tool to discuss important themes. For those who have been to a press and seen how noisy and chaotic it can be, “Man and Machine” could just bring out the beauty found in the entire hullabaloo. For those who have never been to a printing press in their lifetimes, the exhibitions will not only provide the sights but the sounds to make the viewer appreciate how machines have made things easier, and the beauty seen in every gear, every wheel and every other machine that has come into existence. 

 

Abass requires us to  look  at how new inventions have been born out of hard work, the painter says the works are a  reminder to  us  of how far we have come as a people and how far we can go as we continue to discover new things.

To appreciate machines more one has to be able to see them in action. Abass plans on taking his works to the next level after this exhibition, by making them animated. “There is a South African William Kentridge who does animation and video drawings, that is the level and direction my works are going to” Abass said with a smile.

Zenzele Chulu | Zambian Artist/Activist

Born in 1967 on Zambia’s Independence Day  earned him the name Kenneth after the first Republican President Kenneth Kaunda. Later Zenzele a Zulu name meaning self reliance became the name synonymous with the artist’s credentials.  In 1991 Zenzele Chulu enrolled at Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and Commerce, to do his Art Teachers Diploma, he later headed the Art Section and taught art for four years at Kabulonga High School for Boys before joining the Visual Arts Council – Documentation Project as a Research Assistant, it was this period that he motivated himself to take on art administration and cultural management  as his contribution in developing visual arts in Zambia, working with almost the entire spectrum of the Zambian art scene. Since 1998 when he quit from teaching,  Zenzele has immersed his abilities in the creative industry with humility and dedication.  Despite the rages, changes and  challenges faced in the Zambian art scene, he has  shown remarkable zeal in delivering what he can. 
 
His 1997- 2000, allegoric and epic painting,  Return of the Gods was exhibited first time at Expo 2000 in Hanover, Germany and later  was entered into the Osaka Triennale in Osaka, Japan 2001 becoming the first Zambian artist to enter the US$ 93,0000 rich finals of this international art competition and  later the same year he attended Thapong International Art Workshop in Gaberone, Botswana, and concluded the year with local  Ngoma Award -  Best Two Dimensional artist in his pocket. In 2002 he became a member of the Insaka International Artists Trust organising team and  has organised five successful international artists workshops producing more new artists that have become household names in contemporary art today in Zambia. Over the years he has facilitated a lot of artists to get exposed, Stary Mwaba, Ngamanya Banda, Kalinosi Mutale, Charles Chambata, Gordon Shamulenge, Kate Naluyele, Nezias Nyirenda, Tom Phiri the list goes on,  while working with experienced senior artists Vincentio Phiri, Lutanda Mwamba, Mulenga Chafilwa, William Miko, Patrick Mumba, Style Kunda, Flinto Chandia, Martin Phiri, Godfrey Setti, Shadreck Simukanga and many more not mentioned here.

In 2004 he participated in the TGD4 Tambacounda International Art Workshop in Tambacounda and JOKO Workshop in Dakar, Senegal. In 2005 he went to Nagoya, Japan as the designer for the Zambian pavilion for the Aichi Expo 2005 and later he went for an art residence at the Bag Factory in Johannesburg, South Africa and  after returning he got inspired to do an art residence at Rockston Studios in Lusaka till 2008. His work , ‘ Will Power ’ broke through ranks was also exhibited alongside great painters Andy Warhol, Mangalatana , Alberto Korda and Roy Lichtenstein in Paris, at Tajan Auction House facilitated by Joe Pollit. Zenzele represented Triangle Arts Trust at the 2008 Tulipamwe Workshop in Nambia after returning from another workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the first Abro Ethiopia International Workshop where Kenenisa was added to his list of names and an exchange programme in Mauritius.

In  2008 he attended ARESUVA  visual arts conference in Abuja, Nigeria where he sat on the panel among professors and doctors of the arts . In 2010 he was invited to a residence at the  Art Bakery in Cameroon where he got inspired by the late Cameroonian artist Goody Leye to launch Zambia’s first art newspaper, ARTpages and later he conducted  a capacity building workshop in Addis Ababa for young emerging Ethiopian artists. He was in China at the  Shanghai  Expo 2010,  to modify the Zambian pavilion and later was selected to attend the 2011 Florence Biennale in Florence , Italy. He was this year  nominated by Triangle Arts Trust Director Alessio Antoniolli to enter the US$ 25, 000, Sovereign Art African Prize to held during the Johannesburg Art Fair in September 2011, part of  the Prize money will be donated to charity.  Zenzele is scheduled to give a presentation of Insakartists Trust at the Triangle Arts Conference in London, this year November, 2011.

His uncompromising distinct artistic direction makes him one of the most sophisticated and diverse artists of the times.  Zenzele styles have one thing in common , all have ancient and traditional African themes, which  are central to his compositions, from the figurative contra style to the current trend of emotionally charged schematic tantrums .One may not realize that the current abstract schematic tantrums have roots in the ancient caves and rock shelters of Zambia’s Heritage sites, found scattered across from the hills of Eastern; Central and Northern  provinces, hence in 1994 he had his first schematic tantrums solo exhibition at Rockston Studios and Gallery. Zenzele began his research way back in 1998 up to 2003 with the Documentation Project funded by the Visual Arts Council going round the country documenting Zambian arts and crafts , which included historical sites and national monuments.  It was the outburst of artistic anger about the state in which these sites were losing their priceless value through archaeological theft and grafiti . He decided to throw tantrums on canvas as a way of drumming up  an awareness campaign, about the plight of these heritage sites, since 2004 the trend of schematic tantrums has continued to fascinate the art scene with various themes within themes. He continues to be  the contemporary custodian of ancient tradition of abstraction and an activist of his country’s artistic heritage. On the other side Zenzele was this year nominated  as country researcher for the Zambian chapter  on the artists expression of creative freedom and its relationship  to human rights with ARTerial Network based in Cape Town, South Africa under the  ARTWATCH AFRICA Programme. Furthermore he was picked to represent artists run network from the African continent at the Triangle Network Conference in London.


 ©ARTpages 2011.

Soweto meets Savile Row - African Fashion Week 2011

News from Jo'burg from the amazing Makhotso Simone

Liberia’s President Wins Boycotted Runoff Vote

Glenna Gordon/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

By EMILY SCHMALL

10th November 2011

MONROVIA, Liberia — Election officials announced on Thursday that Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s only female president, had been re-elected by an overwhelming margin this week in a runoff vote that was marred by an opposition boycott.

Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf won 90.8 percent of the vote in the low-turnout election, easily defeating Winston Tubman, a former United Nations diplomat who said he was withdrawing from the race only days before the voting over what he claimed was fraud in the first round.

Independent election observers found no evidence of serious irregularities in either the first or second rounds of voting, and Mr. Tubman’s motives for pulling out remained unclear. Both the Carter Center and monitors from Ecowas, the regional grouping of West African states, said both votes were generally free and fair. Analysts said Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf’s opponent had been expected to lose, boycott or not.

Mr. Tubman’s strategy proved provocative in a country that has been through decades of political violence. On Monday, his supporters clashed with Liberian police officers who responded to the crowd with tear gas and live ammunition, killing at least one of the protesters.

The Carter Center, calling Mr. Tubman’s claims “unsubstantiated,” said the election was “well-administered,” and it criticized Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf’s opponents for spoiling the vote.

Their “decision to boycott essentially denied the Liberian people a genuine choice within a competitive electoral process,” the center said in a statement on Thursday. Only 37.4 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot, about half the number who voted in the first round on Oct. 11, when 16 candidates were running. The low turnout and political unrest may leave the president vulnerable to claims that she does not hold a clear mandate going into her second term.

Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf came out on top in the first round of voting in October, shortly after having been named the joint winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in stabilizing a country torn by more than a decade of civil war. The Nobel announcement apparently boosted her re-election prospects, even as it was criticized by opponents as unfair interference in Liberia’s voting.

But she did not garner the more than 50 percent of the votes necessary to win outright, and so faced a runoff against Mr. Tubman, who conceded that the real draw on his ticket was his vice-presidential running mate, the former international soccer star George Weah. Both men lost to Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf in the 2005 presidential election.

In an interview on Thursday Mr. Tubman, a veteran Liberian political figure who once served as justice minister under the military dictator Samuel K. Doe, did not back down from his boycott call. Mr. Tubman, a member of the country’s American-descended ruling elite and whose family has long played a leading role here, said again that his party’s attitude toward the new government would be one of “noncooperation and nonrecognition.”

Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf, for her part, said she would pursue a policy of reconciliation.

“We are determined to make Liberia a post-conflict success story,” Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf said at a news conference, adding that she was considering giving out government posts to leaders of opposition parties. “I’m very confident that we’ll be able to reconcile.”

Mr. Tubman seemed disinclined to take her up on the offer. “I have never wanted a job from her government,” he said.

With 86 percent of precincts reporting, the Liberian elections chairwoman, Elizabeth Nelson, said Thursday that Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf had received 513,320 votes out of 565,391 tallied. Only 52,071 of the ballots counted, or 9.2 percent, had been cast for Mr. Tubman — his tally in 2005.

Mr. Tubman had urged Liberians not to vote and warned there could be violence if the runoff election proceeded as scheduled. When his supporters confronted the police on Monday with rocks and bottles, the police fired back, killing at least one. One of Mr. Tubman’s supporters said she and others had been held in a shipping container at the airfield across from Mrs. Johnson Sirleaf’s home. All 84 of the detainees were released late Tuesday.

Mr. Tubman said that while he regretted the loss of life during Monday’s confrontation, he did not regret the boycott.

Adam Nossiter contributed reporting from Dakar, Senegal.