Adaeze Azie

December 8, 2008

Whether it may be through dance, music, or painting, it is undeniable how art plays a significant part in our history, interests, inspirations, aspirations, and daily life. Everyone has a story to tell; some choose to tell their story through art. Art is a documentation of a certain time period that expresses or conveys an emotion that relates to the world around us; the skill or need to create art is primary and the subject matter is secondary. Artists create stories and express their feelings through their art. A respected artist who expresses his feelings of his Haitian culture is Philippe Dodard; by using masks in his art, he proves that his Haitian culture has their own identity using themes of spirituality and history.

A profile of Philippe Dodard is an internationally acclaimed Haitian artist who lives and creates from his home in Haiti. As one of Caribbean’s leading contemporary artist, his success demonstrates the visionary power of Haiti visual art that has continued to command international attention.

A profile of Caribbean artists for the Black Aesthetic exhibition.

Ijiomah became interested in photography in 2005, and since then, has been documenting Nigeria’s social life, landscape, culture and religion.

We have the power to raise our expectations, and destroy the self-fulfilling prophecies that seek the disempowering of the sum of us. We will not satisfy or gratify that which hinders us. We have an enthusiasm and an apathy that are both infectious and repugnant. We are complex creatures that react on all levels of consciousness. We are pure finesse. Understand that I seek and see what I hear. What I paint, what I write; these thoughts though random, could express my fear. For this, I have no cause to cheer.

Nkiru Nzegwu has had a long and illustrious career in African Studies, a large part of it devoted to challenging discursive interpretations of African culture based on colonialist and Eurocentric models. Her curatorial and publishing projects foreground indigenous African knowledge and interpretations while also locating African subjects as active agents in global discourses.