Here's another reference to the Cowboy that I stumbled upon
while looking for something else. This one comes from American foreign and war correspondent Archibald.T. Steele of the Chicago Daily News and mentions the
Cowboy and American movies in relation to French colony adjacent to Ghana.
In the Gold Coast every American soldier is "Joe"
to every African. In an adjacent French colony, a common salute to the
Americans is "Hello, cowboy!" The trouble with those people is that they've
seen too many American movies.
('Land
of Slave Trade,' In: Negro Digest, Vol. 1(7), 28, originally published by
Chicago Daily News, 17 March 1943)
A while back I came across an incomplete reference to
an article in the US American Negro Digest about, allegedly, a Nigerian
student in that country being astonished that not all Americans are cowboys. Of
course, I had to follow up on that. The other day, the relevant volumes of the
magazine finally arrived at my local library. Unfortunately, they came on
microfiche.
I can't focus today. So, I have abandoned the more
academic literature I was to read today and, instead, settled down with a
travelogue. This one was written by Anthony Daniels under his alias Theodore
Dalrymple (no relation of that other travel writer, William Dalrymple, as far
as I can gather), a doctor, psychiatrist and journalist. After two years of
working in Tanzania, Dalrymple decided to cross Africa from Zanzibar to Mali by
public transport, by bus, lorry, train, boat and canoe. His account lacks the
historical and analytical depths of William Dalrymple's From the Holy Mountain, another travelogue I
have recently read and enjoyed. Nevertheless, the book contains some gems –
and, indeed, some rather lovely accounts of busses and lorries.
It's finally summer here in Germany and I am enjoying the sun in my parents' backyard a train ride outside Berlin. So, let's have some music! And its even topical, well, kind off.
Do you, dear reader, know of any musical tributes to Nigerian motivator bikes, tricycles, cars and lorries transporting passengers or goods? Or their drivers for that matter? - Other than Bobby Benson's Taxi Driver that is. Even I already knew this one.
This comes from
West Africa, the weekly magazine that was published between 1917 and 2005 and
covered the latest news, economical developments and, to a much lesser extent,
culture in the region. To me that's a rather creative approach to politics – though
I am sure Dr. Busia didn't think it quite as funny. Did anybody ever do something
similar to a Nigerian politician?
Political Sardines
Dr. Kofi Busia, one of Ghana's two main political party leaders, has
said he does not know about the manufacture of "book matches" said to
have been made with his effigy on. Ten thousand are reported to have been
ordered by the Ghana Students Association in North America in 1965, without Dr.
Busia's permission being sought. The former Vice-President of this student
association said the matches had been produced as part of their struggle
against Nkrumah. He denied reports that the Association had ordered tins of
sardines with Dr Busia's picture on them (the tins).
Works by the two artists exhibited at Galerie african-painters.com, Berlin (Germany). This is the gallery’s blurb in German, followed by my quick translation:
In unseren letzten Ausstellungen standen Polaritäten im Mittelpunkt. Heute freuen wir uns über erstaunliche Ähnlichkeiten. Der eine ist Autodidakt, der andere hat sein Diplom an der Hochschule für Kunst und Design in Auchi erworben. Der eine lebt in Accra in Ghana, der andere in Lagos, Nigeria. Das sind gerade mal knapp 400 km Luftlinie.
Vielleicht ähneln sich ihre Arbeit gerade deshalb. Mit Spachteltechniken lassen sie westafrikanische Alltagsszenen erstehen, zum Teil höchst filigran, zum Teil erst mit einigem Abstand erkennbar.
In dieser Ausstellung zeigen wir einen Ausschnitt der "Roof-Top-Series" von Tony Okujeni und Szenen über den alltäglichen Kampf um Überleben von Alfred Mensa.
Tony Okujeni schaut von den Dächern hinunter auf das wimmelnde Marktgeschehen. Er spielt mit den Farben, um mit großem Geschick unterschiedliche Stimmungen zu unterschiedlichen Tageszeiten einzufangen.
Alfred Mensa befasst sich mit den Menschen und Plätzen, die er seit frühester Jugend genau kennt: die Arbeit der Fischer an Accras Stränden, die Straßen mit ihren fliegenden Händlern und die traditionellen Feste der Ghanaer.
Our last exhibition focused on polarities. Today we are appreciating surprising similarities. One of the artist is self-taught, the other received his diploma in Art and Design from the Auchi Polytechnic. One of them lives in Ghana, the other in Lagos, Nigeria. That is only about 400 km apart.
Maybe that is why there works share many similarities. Using their palette knifes they create scenes from West African daily life, some of them very delicately done, others only recognizable from a distance.
In this exhibition we showcase a selection of works from Tony Okujeni’s ‘Roof Top Series’ and scenes depicting the daily struggle for survival by Alfred Mensa. Playfully he employs colours to capture the atmospheres at different times of the day.
Alfred Mensa is concerned with people and places he already knows since his earliest youth: the work of fishermen at Accra’s beaches, the roads inhabited by hawkers and Ghana’s traditional celebrations.
Not in all instances comfortable with their choice of words and actually not thinking that the two artists’ works, as they are illustrated in the catalogue, have much in common apart from, yes, all illustrating life in West Africa, all being executed by African artists … Anyway, here the link to the exhibition’s website again and here you can download the exhibition catalogue (in German though).
I’ve finally got around to getting myself on the mailing list of one of the professional discussion groups/forums and here comes the first gem which I’ll also email to my Nigerian artist/art education contact (they probably know anyway, well connected as they are but you never know …). Hope that’s of any use to anybody out there!
An artists' workshop that will be held in Ghana in July of 2010. The workshop will be hosted by Cross Cultural Collaborative, Inc. - an educational non-profit that encourages interaction between creative people from different cultures. The workshop will be held from July 11-24 outside of Accra, Ghana and will bring together artists, designers, and indigenous and contemporary potters from around the world.
The workshop will be facilitated by Barbara Allen, an American potter and Kwao Adipah, a Ghanaian educator.
The workshop itinerary will include:
*a visit to Vume, a traditional pottery village made famous by Michael Cardew
*a visit to a contemporary ceramic studio
*an opportunity to fire and build a paper kiln
*visits to galleries and museums
*a rare opportunity to work with indigenous house painters from northern Ghana.