ACASA

Arts Council of the African Studies Association

  • Home
  • About
    • Mission
    • Contact
    • Current Board
    • ACASA Board Members: Past and Present
    • ACASA Presidents, Secretaries, and Treasurers
    • ACASA Board Elections
    • ACASA in Social Media
  • News
    • Newsletter
    • Obituaries
    • Exhibitions
    • Call for Papers
    • Jobs
    • Grants and Fellowships
  • Triennial Conference
    • Past Triennials
  • Awards
    • ACASA Award for Curatorial Excellence
    • ACASA Leadership Award
    • ACASA Award for Teaching Excellence
    • Roy Sieber Dissertation Award
    • Arnold Rubin Outstanding Publication Award
    • Past Recipients
  • Resources
    • Teaching Resources
    • Museum Resources
    • Associates
    • Journals
    • Institutional Collections of African Art
    • Scholarly Networks
    • Artist Resources
  • Membership
    • Join
    • Member Portal
    • Current Newsletter
  • CCRBP
    • Criteria and Parameters for Objects Subject to Potential Collaboration, Restitution, and Repatriation
    • Comparative Models for Restitution and Repatriation
    • Making North American African Art Collections Accessible and Visible
    • Stakeholder Identification
    • Fundraising
    • Peer Forum: Critical Terminology, Acquisition, and Exhibition Practices
    • Peer Forum: Provenance Research
  • Donations

2023 Election Candidate Statements

December 25, 2022 By Kehinde Shobukonla

Below are statements by candidates seeking nomination to positions at ACASA. Links are included that will take you to the candidate’s bio and CV.

The ACASA board election 2023 is open for members from 3 January 2023.

Janet Purdy

It is an honor to have been nominated to submit a candidate statement for the ACASA board member-at-large position. It would be my great pleasure to have the opportunity to contribute to the organization to support the work of the board in all relevant duties, including attending meetings and participating in board deliberations; serving on committees as needed; and fulfilling vacant board member roles (e.g. VP and CAA/ASA reps). In these ever evolving and transformative moments in museum and academic environments, I would take an active role in current efforts that capitalize upon the solid base of strengths built from the work accomplished by those who have come before us, while establishing new initiatives to move the organization forward in innovative ways. I am especially dedicated to: expanding the focus on arts and artists that have long been marginalized in the study of African art; strengthening understandings of cultural and intangible connections that reach across the physical boundaries of the continent to broaden the definition of African art; and work that will educate and illuminate in a responsible and respectful way the histories of makers, textiles, textile production, and cultural significance of all types of textiles and fashions used and created across the African continent and the Indian Ocean/Arab world. I would take an active role in efforts to build an inclusive and equitable organization, and focus on broadening the reach of fellowships, research travel grants, scholarships, and other educational efforts through increased awareness and new pathways to a diverse range of recipients.

See here for Janet Purdy’s Bio Janet Marion Purdy and CV-Janet-Marion-Purdy

Ashley Stewart

For as long as I can remember, I have been a devoted practitioner and student of the arts. This began as a young girl surrounded by atlases, maps and a library filled with encyclopedia. My father was a well-travelled geographer and scholar who was a self-taught artist. He encouraged me to study and practice art because in his words, “it holds the knowledge of the past and the direction for the future.” Everything else seems like a blur but my drive to know more about the people, places, processes and projects involved in the arts. My older self is curious about the ever evolving trends in the global art space, where are these changes taking place, who are the active participants and how I can contribute to shape the narrative out of such spaces.

For this reason, I am delighted to apply as a Member-at-Large at the Arts Council of the African Studies Association ACASA. For the past forty years, ACASA has been pivotal in promoting greater understanding of the African material and expressive culture in all its forms. This resonates strongly with me because as an artist and scholar of African descent and based in Africa, Nigeria to be precise, I am interested in how I can work collaboratively with creative practitioners at home and in Diaspora on the plethora of opportunities we have. Africa has a rich and diverse culture that cannot be exhausted or compressed and as such, requires a wider understanding of how to unroll this phenomenon. What I found fascinating about ACASA is her many scholarly and advocacy strides including receiving the prestigious Mellon Foundation Grant to support an array of projects one of which is the restitution project. The move was visionary and I am inspired by how this feat was accomplished by the immediate past president, a role model, Prof. Peju Layiwola and the entire team.

To speak a little about myself, I have Bachelor of Arts degree with specialization in Graphics from University of Port Harcourt, a Master of Science in International Management from Loughborough University and a Master of Arts in Graphics from University of Port Harcourt. My role as a lecturer of Design Management at the University of Port Harcourt is as a result of my multidisciplinary background which is an asset because I always bring a variety of perspectives to enrich projects. I have served as a Vice Chairman and member of Society of Nigerian Artists, Rivers State Chapter and member of Female Artists of Nigeria FEAAN. I am currently the West Africa Coordinator of the Global Arts in Medicine Fellowship Alumni. These active roles have developed my leadership and collaborative working skills. My greatest joy is found in volunteering and working with people of multinational backgrounds for a common goal.

I am conversant with the requirements of the Member-at-Large position and they align perfectly with my experience and skillset. I am motivated, goal-oriented and team-oriented and also great at planning, organizing and executing projects to completion.

See here for Ashley Stewart’s Bio Ashley Stewart and CV-Ashley-Stewart

Paul Basu

I am delighted to have been nominated for election to serve on the Board of Directors of ACASA. My research, teaching, community engagement and curatorial interests align closely with the goals of ACASA; namely to promote a greater understanding of African material and expressive culture in all its forms, and to encourage collaboration with African and Diaspora artists and scholars.

As an anthropologist, curator and filmmaker, I have worked in West Africa and with West African artists, scholars, communities and institutions for over 20 years; with particular foci in Sierra Leone, Nigeria and, more recently, Ghana. Much of my work has involved re-engaging with the material and epistemic legacies of colonialism, involving iterations back and forth between European and North American archives and museums, on the one hand, and communities and cultural institutions in Africa on the other. This has given me a strong sense of the contemporary relevance of historical collections, but also the disjunctures between ways of perceiving, understanding and engaging with them in different locations and by different actors. Having led and participated in numerous international museum collaborations, I am also very aware of the particular challenges that many such institutions face on the Continent.

I have been actively involved in contemporary debates around restitution, reparation and repatriation. Issues of historical accountability and addressing past (and continuing) injustices will continue to be a major concern in the field of African arts and heritage. This is an area in which ACASA has an important role to play, and I will be pleased to contribute to this important agenda. Many of these discussions are held between national institutions in North America, Europe and Africa, and I am particularly concerned about the voices of communities that are perhaps closest to the cultural heritage that is at stake.

Over the years, I have served as a trustee and board member of several organisations, including the African Studies Association UK, the Royal Anthropological Institute, and Pitt Rivers Museum. I have served on management committees at various universities, particularly relating to cultural property, museums and collections, galleries and African Studies. For most of my academic career, I have been based in UK universities (University College London, SOAS and the University of Sussex), but I was recently invited to set up an exciting new critical museology and heritage research centre – the Global Heritage Lab – at the University of Bonn in Germany.

See here for Paul Basu’s Bio Paul Basu and CV Paul Basu

Sandra Klopper

Apart from my research interests in African art, I have a long history as a university administrator. I was head of the Visual Arts Department at Stellenbosch University, where I also served for 2 years as acting head of the Music Department; I was appointed subsequently as Dean of Humanities at the University of Pretoria; and after that I took up a position as Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Cape Town where, amongst other things, I had executive oversight for Properties and Services. In the latter capacity, I played a pivotal role in arguing the case to Heritage Western Cape for the permanent removal from the university’s campus of a statue of Cecil John Rhodes, and I participated actively in negotiations during the Rhodes and Fees Must Fall student protests at UCT.  In these often very public administrative roles, I honed skills in dealing with difficult situations and conflicting interests by listening carefully, seeking creative solutions to problems, and treating colleagues and students with the respect they deserve.  I have no doubt that these multiple experiences would be of considerable value in serving on the board of ACASA, and in supporting the interests of the association.

As a long-term participant in ACASA conference – the first one, for me, was in New York in 1995 – I have very clear memories of events organised as part of these conferences over the years, and considerable insights into the enormous efforts that went into planning them. I have participated in every subsequent ACASA conference – in New Orleans, in 1998; in St Thomas, in 2001; at Harvard, in 2004; in Florida, in 2007; in Los Angeles, in 2011; at the Brooklyn Museum, in 2014; in Ghana, in 2017; and online, in 2021.  Through these events, I have witnessed with fascination how the focus and interest of African art scholars have shifted over time; and how important conference dialogues have led to the forging of new relationships and ground-breaking publications.  In my view, these conferences can and should continue to play a vital role in sustaining current and future scholarship, and in attracting the interest of younger scholars to African art studies, broadly-speaking.  Face-to-face platforms for interaction in a (now hopefully) post-pandemic world are vital to the growth of ACASA and the scholarship it fosters.

If elected, I would also help to drive and support efforts not only to encourage greater participation in ACASA’s work by scholars from Africa and the Caribbean, but for more of its activities to be located in Africa.  The conference at Lagon University was in my view a huge success.  Many other African institutions could similarly become active in hosting future conferences and in broadening the reach of the association.

See here for Sandra Klopper’s Bio Sandra Klopper and CV Sandra Klopper

Carlee Forbes

Thank you for this nomination; it would be a great pleasure to serve this organization that plays such a central role in shaping our field. ACASA’s recently-awarded Mellon grant has opened the doors for many opportunities, including the creation of resources for provenance research on African arts. Since 2019, I have worked as a curatorial fellow at the Fowler Museum at UCLA researching provenance for material collected in the early 20th century. I have shared much of this research via public programs and digital resources available on the Fowler’s website. I am also an active member of a CCRBP sub-committee and organize the Fowler’s internal working group for repatriation. As a board member, I would look forward to collaborating to create resources that gather and disseminate our shared knowledge and experience. I would also be interested in expanding professional development activities for graduate student and emerging scholars. I served in several capacities to organize graduate students in my departments at UNC-CH and UF. I envision an expansion of ACASA’s web resources—such as a hub for funding opportunities or a more formalized mentoring system—and the creation of networking spaces beyond the Triennial that would welcome new members and voices into ACASA’s fold. It is an exciting time for ACASA and I look forward to serving the organization that has had such a foundational role in my career thus far. Thank you for your consideration.

See here for Carlee Forbes’ Bio Carlee S. Forbes and CV Carlee Forbes

Nichole Bridges

I am honored to be nominated for a Member-at-Large on the ACASA Board. As a longtime member, I am deeply appreciative of ACASA, its leadership past and present, and its role to promote and sustain our field. I am eager to serve ACASA during this period of important self-assessment and exciting potential for new approaches and relationships to advance our discipline and ACASA’s role in it. As new processes develop with the administrative support and professionalization made possible by the recent Mellon Foundation grant, I am suited to serve ACASA in an at-large capacity to provide operational perspectives and practical contributions as organizational priorities require. I am particularly interested in helping to enhance ACASA’s engagement with international colleagues and students in Africa, Europe, and the African diaspora — including attempting to renew ties with African American arts and cultural studies that were fundamental to ACASA’s founding in the late 1960s. As co-chair, with Shannen Hill, of the Interlocutor Identification Sub-Committee of the CCRBP and a curator of sub-Saharan collections in an American art museum, I look forward to supporting the ongoing efforts of the CCRBP and the professional standards and recommendations ACASA will endorse.

As an ACASA Member-at-Large, I would bring a cooperative spirit and administrative and operational perspectives gained from two decades working in American art museums. For nine years, I have worked at the Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM), where I am a curator of African art and head of the arts of Africa, Oceania, and the indigenous Americas. At SLAM, I serve on the curatorial steering committee for diversity, equity and inclusion, and have served on strategic planning committees for collections care and audience development. I currently facilitate a community advisory group, comprised of members of St. Louis’s Black communities, in conjunction with a major exhibition I am organizing. Recently, I advised the Katherine Dunham Museum, in East St. Louis, on its African art collections formed by Dunham, an anthropologist and choreographer. These efforts inform my interests in ensuring that African American arts and cultural perspectives, as they intersect with African arts, retain consideration in concert with ACASA’s ongoing and future directions in engaging with Africa. In addition, with relatively easy access (a 40-minute flight) to Chicago from my home in St. Louis, I can also be of service in the planning and implementation of the 2024 Triennial conference.

See here for Nichole Bridges’ Bio Nichole N. Bridges and CV Nichole Bridges

Romuald Tchibozo

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

In 2017, precisely from the 7th to the 12th of August, I participated for the first time in the ACASA Triennial, the 17th, organised at the University of Legon in Accra, Ghana, and it allowed me to discover the greatness of the Arts Council of the African Studies Association. On this occasion, I co-organised the panel on the theme, Oral Art History and Film: Toward a New Digital Archive, in collaboration with colleagues from the Frei Universität in Berlin.

Since then, I have been an active member of our association and this has opened up contact with several fellow art historians, especially those based on the continent. I then committed myself to working to consolidate the practice of art history in Africa with them. This paved the way for the organisation of the first seminar for art historians living in Africa in Berlin from 04 to 09 February 2019 on the theme: Art History. Teaching and Doing Research in African Countries: Present and Future of a Discipline with the collaboration of Kunst Historische Institut of Florence, Art Histories and Aesthetic Practices program and Max Planck Institute of the Forum for Transregional Studies.

Currently, I am a member of the ACASA CCRBP Working Group Steering Committee” and work with all colleagues to develop best practices for the restitution of African art in North American museum institutions.

I am therefore very honored to be nominated to serve our common association as an ACASA Board Member for a few years, bringing this commitment, but also my expertise.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I remain at your disposal for any questions you may have.

See here for Romuald Tchibozo’s Bio Romuald Tchibozo and CV Romuald Tchibozo

Elaine Sullivan

It is an honor to be nominated to run for a member-at-large position on the ACASA board of directors. ACASA has been an important part of my scholarly journey from one of its earliest chapters: as a prospective PhD student, my campus visit to UCLA was scheduled to coincide with the 2011 triennial, introducing me not only to my soon-to-be graduate campus but also to the global intellectual community I would be a part of. Later, my first conference presentation was at the 2014 triennial, and I organized a panel for the recent 2021 triennial. At present, I am a member of the Interlocutor Identification Sub-committee for ACASA’s Collaboration, Collections, and Restitution Best Practices for North American Museums Holding African Objects Working Group.

I am eager to take a more active role in this organization that has been so important to the development of the study of African arts. While previous boards have done great work in expanding the organization, increasing its relevance to African colleagues, and developing its web presence, there is much room to grow. As a member-at-large of the board, I would devote my energy to attracting more Africa-based members and improving professional development resources for early career academics.

As an American scholar based in Johannesburg, I will be well-placed to connect ACASA with members on the African continent and brainstorm new ways for the organization to support African artists and researchers. Though I will be living in South Africa, my research focus continues to be francophone Central Africa, and as a French-speaker I would dedicate myself to outreach with colleagues in francophone countries.

I am about to begin my second postdoctoral appointment, and like many in our field, my time as an early-career researcher has been characterized by uncertainty about both job prospects and the broader relevance of our work to the global community of arts professionals. I believe ACASA can support emerging scholars through events and resources and by advocating for African arts more broadly. As a board member, I would aim to make the case for both the organization’s and the field’s relevance to younger generations of researchers, artists, and all those interested in the arts of Africa.

See here for Elaine Sullivan’s Bio Sullivan Elaine and CV Sullivan Elaine

Wandile Kasibe

I would like to apply to serve on the Board of Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA). My motivation for applying to serve on the Board of ACASA comes from my strong research, academic, visual art, museological, community development backgrounds and as well as broader understanding and knowledge of the issues affecting Arts of Africa and the African Diaspora. I am passionate about the arts, museums and heritage.

As a scholar with relevant qualifications in Fine Art, Museums Studies, Heritage and Sociology I have managed Public Engagement projects, organized conferences, facilitated public discussions, presented online, curated exhibitions, edited documentary films and as well as published in various publications among which I can mention the following:

  • In 2008 I published a chapter in Oreosness/Coconutness: “Not Quite Black, Not Quite White” (Dis-Location / Re-Location: Exploring Alienation and Identity: KURT Publishers (2008), White, A Colour For Special Occasions (Art South Africa 2006: p24-25): BELL-ROBERT Publishers (2006), “Freedom An Intergenerational Cause” (Chapter) in “Liberation Diaries: Celebrating 20 Years of Democracy” (ed) by Busani Ngcaweni, JACANA Publishers, 2014.

Furthermore, I have also published opinion pieces in local and national newspapers on topical issues such as repatriation, restitution, museums, decolonization among others. I have also served on various boards. In my 16 years of experience in the museum and heritage sector doing adult heritage education work, I have been responsible for the following tasks among other things:

  • Implementation of Public Programmes: conceptualization, planning and implementation of commemorative day programmes, special events and Summer School, Manage the work of Adult Education, Audience Development and Commemorative day programmes, Planning and managing the budget of the public programmes section, Research on topical and relevant issues, Identify and manage research programmes, Co-ordinate materials and resource development projects among other things.

If I am successful in this nomination, I will be able to draw from my extensive experience in Art, Heritage, Museum Studies, Sociology, Community Engagement in my fiduciary responsibility as a board member.

It is an honor to be nominated to run for a member-at-large position on the ACASA board of directors. ACASA has been an important part of my scholarly journey from one of its earliest chapters: as a prospective PhD student, my campus visit to UCLA was scheduled to coincide with the 2011 triennial, introducing me not only to my soon-to-be graduate campus but also to the global intellectual community I would be a part of. Later, my first conference presentation was at the 2014 triennial, and I organized a panel for the recent 2021 triennial. At present, I am a member of the Interlocutor Identification Sub-committee for ACASA’s Collaboration, Collections, and Restitution Best Practices for North American Museums Holding African Objects Working Group.

See here for Wandile Kasibe’s Bio Wandile Kasibe and CV Wandile Kasibe.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Endowed Assistant or Associate Professor of African American and/or African Diasporic Art

December 11, 2022 By Kehinde Shobukonla

UA logo

Locations: Fayetteville
Time type: Full time
Posted on: Posted 6 Days Ago
Job requisition id: R0026548

Current University of Arkansas System employees including student employees and graduate assistants need to log into Workday on My Apps. Simply enter “Find Jobs” in the Workday search bar to view open positions.

All Job Postings will close at 12:01 a.m. CT on the specified Closing Date (if designated). To view the job posting closing date please return to the search for jobs page.

If you close the browser or exit your application prior to submitting, the application process will be saved as a draft. You will be able to access and complete the application through “My Draft Applications” located on your Candidate Home page.

Type of Position: Faculty – Tenure/Tenure Track

Workstudy Position: No

Job Type: Regular

Work Shift: Day Shift (United States of America)

Sponsorship Available: Yes

Institution Name: University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas is a land grant institution, classified by the Carnegie Foundation among the nation’s top 2 percent of universities with the highest level of research activity. The University of Arkansas works to advance Arkansas and build a better world through education, research and outreach by providing transformational opportunities and skills, promoting an inclusive and diverse culture and climate, and nurturing creativity, discovery and the spread of new ideas and innovations.

The University of Arkansas campus is located in Fayetteville, a welcoming community ranked as one of the best places to live in the U.S. The growing region surrounding Fayetteville is home to numerous Fortune 500 companies and one of the nation’s strongest economies. Northwest Arkansas is also quickly gaining a national reputation for its focus on the arts and overall quality of life.

As an employer, the University of Arkansas offers a vibrant work environment and a workplace culture that promotes a healthy work-life balance. The benefits package includes university contributions to health, dental, life and disability insurance, tuition waivers for employees and their families, 12 official holidays, immediate leave accrual, and a choice of retirement programs with university contributions ranging from 5 to 10% of employee salary.

Below you will find the details for the position including any supplementary documentation and questions, you should review before applying for the opening.

If you have a disability and need assistance with the hiring process, please submit a request via the Disability Accommodations | OEOC | University of Arkansas (uark.edu) : Request an Accommodation. Appli­cants are required to submit a request for each position of which they have applied.

For general application assistance or if you have questions about a job posting, please contact Human Resources at 479.575.5351.

Department: School of Art Art History

Department’s Website: https://fulbright.uark.edu/departments/art/

Summary of Job Duties:

The Art History Program in the School of Art, in Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas, invites applications for a tenure-track Endowed Assistant or Associate Professor in Art History, focusing on African American and/or African Diasporic arts. Interdisciplinary, intersectional, transnational, transregional, decolonial, community-based, and social justice approaches centering on overlooked or marginalized histories, such as Afro-Latinx traditions, are particularly welcome. The position is open in terms of chronological focus. This is a nine-month faculty appointment, with a standard workload of 40% research, 40% teaching (2 courses per semester), and 20% service. Expected start date is August 14, 2023.

Scholars with a passion for collaboration, program-building, and partnership-development are also encouraged to apply. Applications are also encouraged from those invested in making art history accessible and compelling to first-generation students and students from communities underrepresented in U.S. arts institutions. The Art History Program in the School of Art is actively committed to diversifying art historical knowledge and approaches, embracing new methodologies, and educating students in a multivocal and inclusive art history. This effort is reinforced by several new initiatives within the School of Art, including the Bridge Program, which provides structural support to all new faculty, especially those historically underrepresented in academia and their chosen fields, and a new student mentoring program.

We are a vibrant and growing program. This position is considered fundamental to the implementation of our new MA program in the arts of the Americas, developed in partnership with the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and its contemporary arts satellite, the Momentary. For this and future hires, we seek creative thinkers who will contribute to the diversity and excellence of the intellectual community in the School of Art, Crystal Bridges, and the growing arts ecosystem of Northwest Arkansas. Endowed positions come with a significant annual research budget of up to $60,000 to support scholarship, the expectation of a research record appropriate to the prominence of the appointment, and the requirement of at least one community outreach effort per year.

The successful candidate will teach courses at the masters and undergraduate level, play an active role in implementing the new MA program in arts of the Americas (expected launch date of Fall 2023), participate in and help to guide future faculty and student recruitment, and regularly collaborate with staff at Crystal Bridges and the Momentary. Candidates may also teach in the Honors College and at the university’s Rome Center, and co-design courses with colleagues in Studio and other units. Art history faculty have ties to African and African American Studies, Latin American and Latino Studies, and the Indigenous Studies Program, among other departments and initiatives. Additional resources include the University of Arkansas Museum, the Fine Arts Center Gallery, the Museum of Native American History in Bentonville, and the many museums in the region, including the First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City, OK, the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, OK, the Dallas Museum of Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, MO.

Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications:

  • Ph.D. in art history or a related field like African American studies, African diaspora studies, visual culture studies, or performance studies, conferred by the date of appointment
  • An established record of innovative scholarship
  • A commitment to diversity in teaching and research

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Interest or experience in interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and cross-campus collaborations
  • Active or emerging commitment to service and leadership
  • Demonstrated commitment to program building and partnership development
  • Demonstrated commitment to community outreach

Additional Information:

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

Completed applications received by 01/13/2023 will be assured full consideration. Late applications will be reviewed as necessary to fill the position.

For additional inquiries, please contact search committee co-chairs Dr. Janine Sytsma at sytsma@uark.edu and Dr. Ana Pulido Rull at apulidor@uark.edu.

Required Documents:

  • a cover letter addressing research and teaching
  • a statement describing commitment to diversity and inclusion in research and teaching
  • curriculum vitae
  • two scholarly writing samples (preferably published or forthcoming research, submitted in a single PDF)
  • the names and contact information of three referees

Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled.

About the School of Art:

In 2017, the University of Arkansas was awarded a $120 million gift from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation to establish a School of Art in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. The gift created the first and only school of art in the state of Arkansas, and is helping to advance art education, design, art history and studio art in the state while providing unparalleled access and opportunity to students. In addition, in 2017, the School of Art also received a $40 million gift from the Windgate Foundation to develop and build a new Studio Art and Graphic Design facility. Most recently, in 2021, the Windgate Foundation gave a $30 million partial challenge grant to develop and build a facility to house a professional gallery, auditorium, the foundations program, as well as idea fabrication and arts entrepreneurship labs. The mission of the School of Art is to develop one of the highest quality educational, research and service programs in the visual arts available nationally. The School of Art is a fully accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) and includes 54 faculty, 8 staff members, and more than 500 students. There are currently 8 degree options: BFA in Art Education, BFA in Graphic Design, BFA in Studio Art, BA in Art History, BA in Studio Art, MA in Art Education, MFA in Studio Art, and MDES in Communication Design. An MA degree in Art History will launch in fall 2023.

The School of Art at the University of Arkansas highly values equity, access, diversity, and inclusion in creating, studying, and teaching. This position is part of a cluster of searches designed to foster an equitable, innovative, and inclusive environment for teaching, mentoring, research, and service. The School of Art is especially interested in applicants whose work aims to broaden the canon, demonstrates a commitment to mentoring students from diverse backgrounds, creates the conditions for classroom experiences that are marked by empathy and mutual respect, and fosters collaboration, community, and open dialogue. We seek faculty committed to working and creating in ways that foster encouraging and supportive learning experiences that expand the School of Art’s current efforts to engage the campus and community in dialogue.

Salary Information: Salary is $70,000 at Assistant level, and $85,000 at Associate level

Required Documents to Apply:

Cover Letter/Letter of Application, Curriculum Vitae, Diversity Statement, List of three Professional References (name, email, business title), Writing Sample

Optional Documents: Proof of Veteran Status

Recruitment Contact Information: Dr. Janine Sytsma, search committee chair, sytsma@uark.edu

All application materials must be uploaded to the University of Arkansas System Career Site https://uasys.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/UASYS

Please do not send to listed recruitment contact.

Special Instructions to Applicants:

Pre-employment Screening Requirements:

Criminal Background Check, Sex Offender RegistryThe University of Arkansas is committed to providing a safe campus community. We conduct background checks for applicants being considered for employment. Background checks include a criminal background check and a sex offender registry check. For certain positions, there may also be a financial (credit) background check, a Motor Vehicle Registry (MVR) check, and/or drug screening. Required checks are identified in the position listing. A criminal conviction or arrest pending adjudication or adverse financial history information alone shall not disqualify an applicant in the absence of a relationship to the requirements of the position. Background check information will be used in a confidential, non-discriminatory manner consistent with state and federal law.

The University of Arkansas seeks to attract, develop and retain high quality faculty, staff and administrators that consistently display practices and behaviors to advance a culture and climate that embeds inclusion, diversity, equity, and access. For more information on diversity and inclusion on campus, please visit: Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The University of Arkansas is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution. The university welcomes applications without regard to race/color, sex, gender, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability, religion, marital or parental status, protected veteran or military status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal or state law.

Persons must have proof of legal authority to work in the United States on the first day of employment. All applicant information is subject to public disclosure under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

Constant Physical Activity: N/A
Frequent Physical Activity: N/A
Occasional Physical Activity: N/A
Benefits Eligible: Yes

Filed Under: Jobs

Call for Proposals: Ritual Transformations of Consciousness

October 27, 2022 By Kehinde Shobukonla

Call for Proposals

Ritual Transformations of Consciousness

We invite proposals for presentations related to the conference series on the Black Sacred Arts that address topics including but not limited to:

  • Expanding definitions of ritual consciousness such as trance, transformation, spirit possession, copresence, mediumship, ritual mounting, among others
  • Arts, media, and materialities of transformation
  • Sacred arts as experienced transnationally and in digital spaces
  • Decolonization
  • Translating experiences of ritual consciousness, trance, spirit possession, and ecstatic religion
  • Embodiment, neurophysiology, and entrainment
  • Alternative cartographies and the mapping of Black place-making
  • Ritual technologies
  • Arts and ritual speech acts, ecstatic utterances, glossolalia, intoned sermons, mystical language(s)
  • Visualization, the envisioning of transformation, and iconographies of transcendence
  • Sexuality, spirituality, and modalities of transformation
  • Perceptions of consciousness and ontologies of “person”-hood
  • RTC and the ontological turn
  • Ritual practices and folkloric expression

Accepted presenters and performers in attendance will receive an honorarium to help defray the cost of travel to New Haven. In addition, they will be provided hotel accommodations and several meals at the conference.

Format

Abstracts for organized panels as well as individual papers, from advanced graduate students, faculty, and scholars working outside the academy are welcome. Abstracts should be approximately 300 words in length. Individual papers and presentations will be 20 minutes, and organized panels can include 3-4 presenters. When submitting abstracts for an organized panel, please include a panel title and all abstracts together as one submission. We also invite proposals for alternative formats that might incorporate hands-on engagement with artistic and ritual phenomena such as lecture-demonstrations, listening and viewing sessions, and those interested in this mode should describe aspects of format and length in a short abstract. Performers’ abstracts can contain one URL for a multimedia supplement directly related to the presentation.

How to submit abstracts

All abstracts should be submitted by December 1, 2022 at ismconferences.submittable.com(link is external). If you are submitting an organized panel, only the panel organizer or chair should submit a PDF containing the panel title and all abstracts. Anyone submitting an abstract will have to open a free account with Submittable before submitting presentation materials. Be prepared to include the following information when submitting an individual or panel abstract:

  • Name
  • Email
  • Affiliation
  • 150-word bio or personal narrative
  • Paper or panel title
  • Paper or panel abstract

Any questions about the conference or abstract submission can be sent to ismconferences@yale.edu(link sends e-mail).

Timeline

Abstracts due: December 1, 2022

Announcement of decisions for submissions: January 15, 2023

Conference registration opens (for non-presenters) and schedule announced: February 15, 2023

Program Committee

  • Melvin Butler, University of Miami
  • Ambre Dromgoole, Yale University
  • Steven Friedson, University of North Texas
  • Elyan Hill, Southern Methodist University
  • Dorothea Schulz, University of Münster

The full call for proposals

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Call for Proposals: Archival Absences: An Incomplete History of Photography

September 6, 2022 By Kehinde Shobukonla

Call for Proposals

Archival Absences: An Incomplete History of Photography

A photo-historical seminar for doctoral and post-doctoral scholars, organized and led by Tatjana Bartsch (Bibliotheca Hertziana), Elizabeth Otto (University at Buffalo), Johannes Röll (Bibliotheca Hertziana), and Steffen Siegel (Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen)

Supported by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Stiftung, Essen Rome, Bibliotheca Hertziana, Max Planck Institute for Art History March 20–24, 2023

Deadline: October 20, 2022

Photo-historical research engages a vast array of materials. Scholars working in this field grapple with photographic images of all kinds—from Nicéphore Niépce’s heliographs to the most recent digital imagery. They are attentive to technologies of photographic production and reproduction as well as to the discourses and practices that frame the images. In manifold ways, photo historians can feel lured by the richness of relevant production and tradition. In other words, photography as a medium is not only easily accessed by countless users for many purposes; from a scholarly point of view, it is also a medium that encompasses a mass of researchable resources, a sheer abundance of personal collections and institutional holdings so vast it might even threaten to overwhelm the scholar.

Despite the massive accumulations of diverse material that potentially fall within the purview of histories of photography, such histories can never be considered “completed.” Instead, they are always partial, shaped by researchers’ interests and questions, conscious and unconscious decisions they make and the materials they are able to access. Like the production of photographs themselves, scholars’ work is framed by what Laura Wexler has called a “set of choices” akin to the crops and omissions that delineate the limits of photography’s purported offer of a window into the past. Paradoxically, the most comprehensive photographic collections and archives most clearly reveal not just the excellence of their own holdings, but also the lapses, gaps, exclusions, and oversights within those holdings. Our written approaches to the histories of photography replicate these relationships between what is present and absent, visible and invisible, available and inaccessible, preserved and lost.

These observations are our point of departure for the research seminar titled “Archival Absences: An Incomplete History of Photography.” Following on the Bibliotheca Hertziana in Rome and the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen’s initiative for interdisciplinary seminars on the theory and history of photography—founded with the first seminar in 2019 and, beginning this year, supported by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Stiftung—we are pleased to announce the second such program that invites advanced Ph.D. students and recent post-doctoral scholars to present and discuss their research. With the seminar, we aim to2 develop a focused, multi-disciplinary analysis of the material, institutional, and even personal conditions that shape photo-historical practices of researching, writing, and publishing.

We seek to explore diverse means of knowledge production and methods for probing, mitigating, or bridging archival absences of many kinds. For as much as it is true that photo-historical research can claim an overwhelming opulence of sources, the opposite is always also true: in some cases, the archives’ silences are deafening. We want to delve into the significance of what we do not see, read, and experience, what we do not address, question, and investigate—and the reasons for these absences. We want to query the forces that control the possibility of becoming, being, and remaining present—and, as a corresponding other half of a pendant pair—the power of absence.

Over the past decades, research, especially from feminist and post-colonial perspectives, has offered substantial questions, arguments, and methods for identifying and confronting absences. This research shows the importance of addressing two interrelated lines of questioning: what is missing from the archives, and what is missing in our critical discourses? Drawing on both aspects, we invite applications from emerging scholars who will present new scholarship and, in the context of a week-long seminar, discuss a set of questions that relate to materials and institutions, methods and research fields, canons and historiographies. Among the relevant questions that applicants may wish to consider and that will shape the seminar are:

— What views have photographers captured? What have they missed, and why?

— What logics determine the creation and evolution of archives, analog and digital? How are archives shaped by the epistemic moments of their making, and how do they serve certain histories while betraying others? To what extent do photographers, archivists, or curators rely upon trends, past and present, to shape their photographic inquiries?

— What impacts do disciplinary frames have when it comes to archival care for photo-historical materials and also to scholarly interest? Should we valorize the diverse institutional cultures of presence and absence that prevail in various archives, libraries, and museums?

— How and why do archives select particular materials to collect and thus foster their privileged roles in creating visual histories? How and why do institutions exclude, neglect, or deaccession other materials? What is the impact of objects’ existence in analog or digital formats upon their perceived relevance for scholarly scrutiny?

— Which methods do we pursue when we search the content of an archive? How can we detect, distinguish, and address different types of absences, archival holdings as well as strands of research interests? How do we address the myriad negative spaces that constitute an archive as much as its accessible contents do?

— How do we address the photographic objects, traditions, and indeed entire histories that have been forgotten, damaged, destroyed, suppressed, censored, excluded, vanished, disappeared, or simply lost?

— How do we treat visual objects that, for religious, cultural, or personal reasons, were never intended to be collected or viewed publicly?

— How do we mark the incompleteness of our historiographic work? What theoretical ideas, such as “critical fabulation,” enable us to redress these absences? Can research on archival absences constitute another kind of presence?

— Can photo-historical research practices that address questions of being present or absent serve as role models for other disciplines? Relatedly, how can photo scholars learn from other disciplines grappling with a comparable set of problems?

We welcome proposals from Ph.D. students already in the dissertation phase and recent post-doctoral scholars (maximum of three years since degree) in art history and related disciplines with a strong photo-historical component. The seminar language will be English. All participants will present some aspect of their current research projects, which must relate to the program’s subject matter. Visits to several photographic archives in Rome will be an integral part of the seminar.

The Bibliotheca Hertziana will provide lodging in double rooms and reimburse the incurred expenses for traveling economy class up to 500 euros. In addition, participants will receive a modest daily allowance.

Please upload the following application materials as PDF-documents by October 20, 2022, on https://recruitment.biblhertz.it/position/11042816

— Title and 500-word abstract of the proposed topic (all participants will give a 30-minute formal presentation)

— Brief CV (Maximum 3 pages)

— Brief summary of your dissertation or postdoctoral project

— Names and contact details of two references

Questions and queries may be sent to: fototeca@biblhertz.it

The first seminar was followed by the publication of “Circulating Photographs,” a special issue of History of Photography, vol. 45, issue 1, 2021, co-edited by Antonella Pelizzari and Steffen Siegel: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/thph20/45/1?nav=tocList.

The organizers anticipate selecting a limited number of the 2023 seminar’s final papers for publication in a similar volume.

Filed Under: Jobs, Uncategorized

Job Opportunity: Contract Project Manager/Arts Administrator

July 26, 2022 By Kehinde Shobukonla

Applications due 1 September 2022

The Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA) seeks to hire a Contract Project Manager/Arts Administrator to support the professional activities of the ACASA Board. Learn more about the association on our website.

Tasks: Tasks include general board organization, operations development, and project management. The Project Manager/Arts Administrator will develop a centralized archive and archival organizational system, identify and implement a project management system, identify grant funding opportunities, and provide administrative support for event and outreach planning, including the Triennial Symposium of African Arts in Chicago, IL in Summer 2024.

Contract Term/Format: This is an annual contract position, lasting from 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023, with two years of options to renew. The work will be, in large part, conducted remotely. The successful applicant must be available for regular online meetings with the ACASA Board and vendors. Meetings will take place at least once monthly in year one, and every two weeks (or more frequently) in the event year (Year Two). In Year Two, the successful applicant will be expected to travel to Chicago, IL for the Triennial symposium in Summer 2024. Economy class travel, standard conference lodgings, and per diem are included for conference purposes. The Points of Contact will be the ACASA President and Treasurer.

Contract value: Contract payments will be staggered, with once monthly payments at the conclusion of each month, upon submission of an invoice, totaling annually:

Year One: $71,370
Year Two: $74,940
Year Three: $78,690
Year Two travel and per diem: $10,000

Skills/Requirements: The successful applicant must have regular access to internet and cell phone service to complete this primarily remote position and must be fluent in English. They should be legally able to work and travel in the US. A familiarity with African arts is not required but is encouraged. Professional experience with and enthusiasm for project management and non-profit management is required. Applicants should have proficiency with the following:

  • Zoom (and/or other virtual meeting software)
  • WhatsApp
  • Google Drive Suite/Microsoft Office Suite/Dropbox
  • Web-based project management software (such as Trello, Basecamp, or Gitlab)
  • Creation and tracking of budgets

This contract position is intended for a recent graduate (up to 5 years) with a terminal degree (PhD, MBA, MFA, MLIS, or similar) and an interest in an arts administration career.

At all times during the performance of this contract, the contractor must obtain and provide evidence of own health insurance, accident insurance with a liability of up to 1 million dollars and worker’s compensation insurance in accordance with statutory requirements and limits.

EEO/AA Statement: ACASA is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer that is committed to cultural and intellectual diversity. The ACASA Board encourages applications from women, persons of color, and persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities have the right to request and receive reasonable accommodation.

Application Deadline: 1 September 2022

Start Date: 1 October 2022

Application Materials: 

  • Online application form
  • CV/resume
  • Single-page letter of interest that addresses relevant project management experience
  • Email and phone contact information for 3 references.

Application Process: Complete online application form and upload application materials via this link >>> Apply Now

Questions? Email us

Filed Under: Jobs

Mellon Foundation Grants the Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA) $250,000 to Support Capacity Building; Research, Restitution, and Community Building Projects

June 19, 2022 By Kehinde Shobukonla

CHICAGO (June 13, 2022) –– For the past forty years, the Arts Council of the African Studies Association has supported scholars, artists, and museum professionals engaged with the arts of Africa and its diasporas. Today, this professional organization received a prestigious quarter-million-dollar grant from the Mellon Foundation to bolster its organizational structure, providing a strong base for its critical support and advocacy projects.

Geared at capacity building, this grant falls under the Mellon Foundation’s Arts and Culture program, which aims in part to support historically under-resourced organizations and encourage “new structures and organizational models that reflect their holistic approach to social change.” Running from July 2022 through June 2025, this transformative award is the largest grant that ACASA has received in its history.

ACASA President Dr. Peju Layiwola (University of Lagos) notes “We are excited and elated at receiving a Mellon Foundation Grant. This guarantees that the work of the association will continue with renewed vigor, building on the efforts of our founding members and previous boards. This grant gives us hope for the future.”

Grant-Supported Projects

  • Hiring a Board Administrator/Project Manager to streamline structural organization; establish archives; and assist in planning and executing the 2024 Triennial Symposium of African Art. A job description and application for this position will be available on ACASA’s website in late July 2022.
  • Expanding ACASA’s global membership, with a focus on attracting Africa- and Caribbean-based members
  • Producing a free Wiki of Collectors & Dealers of Historical African Arts to address provenance challenges in the field, including restitution efforts.
  • Supporting the activities of ACASA’s Collaboration, Collections, and Restitution Best Practices for North American Museums Holding African Objects (CCRBP) working group.

Please direct inquiries to ACASA President Dr. Peju Layiwola (president@acasaonline.org)

About the Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA)

The only professional organization in the United States dedicated to the study of African arts, the Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA) facilitates communication among scholars, teachers, students, artists, museum specialists, collectors, and all others interested in the arts of Africa and the African Diaspora. Founded in 1981–82, ACASA is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization. It sponsors the Triennial Symposium on African Art, the premier forum for presenting cutting-edge research on the art of Africa and its Diaspora, presenting awards for the best publications, exhibitions, and leaders in the field. Notable initiatives for promoting the advancement of African art scholarship include a book distribution project to support African and Caribbean museums and libraries, and a publication project that produced the landmark textbook A History of Art in Africa (Pearson Prentice Hall). For more information about the organization, its activities, and its global membership, visit acasaonline.org

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Black Art In The Americas And The Afro-Atlantic

January 10, 2022 By Kehinde Shobukonla

The Department of Art at the University of Virginia is pleased to announce that it is accepting applications for a 2-year Postdoctoral Fellowship in Black Art in the Americas and the Afro-Atlantic. Please find details below, with thanks for helping this posting reach the broadest possible audience. 

 

 Rising Scholars Postdoctoral Fellowship Program | The Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, UVA 

Review of applications will begin February 2, 2022.   

The University of Virginia Department of Art and the Lindner Center for Art History hope to provide a departmental home to a Postdoctoral Fellow with expertise in Black Art in the Americas and the Afro-Atlantic. We invite applications from candidates who received, or will receive, their Ph.D. degree in the history of art or a related field between August 24, 2019 and August 24, 2022. The two-year fellowship is offered under the auspices of the Rising Scholars Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, funded by the UVA Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Mellon Foundation. The Rising Scholars program reflects the College of Arts and Sciences’ ongoing commitment to diversifying its programs and the professoriate more broadly, as well as its mission to further our understanding of the legacies of racial inequity, to making progress toward racial equity and to support the career trajectories of underrepresented and historically excluded scholars whose research focuses on Race, Justice, and Equity.

We conceive of the Americas and the Afro-Atlantic world in capacious terms and would welcome research and teaching that brings a critical perspective to what constitutes “America” and its relationship to Black communities and art. Applicants whose research focuses on specific locales and those whose work spans transgeographic regions, networks, and communities are equally welcome. We are open to diverse research questions, historical periods, and methods, though we especially welcome scholars whose work explores how Black artists and their critics have come to challenge and expand the field of art history and/or explored the bounds and potentialities of artistic media.

The Rising Scholars Postdoctoral Fellow will join a faculty in the Ph.D. program in art and architectural history with existing strengths in the art, architecture, and visual culture of the Americas, the Afro-Atlantic world, and Africa from antiquity to the present, while adding new perspectives and areas of expertise. The UVA Department of Art brings together art and architectural historians distinguished by their broadly diverse research specializations alongside a dynamic and engaged faculty in studio art, and curatorial teams at the Fralin Museum and The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection. This postdoctoral fellowship builds upon our recent Studio hire which put creative inquiry into Blackness and race in a central position in the Studio program.

The Department of Art is committed to providing our Postdoctoral Fellow with the mentorship and support essential for achieving their research and teaching goals. The Postdoctoral Fellow will also have the opportunity to join a rich interdisciplinary community with especially pertinent interlocutors in the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies, Caribbean Studies, Indigenous Studies, Global South Studies, Environmental Humanities, in addition to Charlottesville community institutions such as the Jefferson School African-American Heritage Center. Additional opportunities for the support of superb teaching and research at UVA include the Center for Teaching Excellence, Equity Center, Institute of Humanities and Global Cultures, and the digital humanities community at DH@UVA.

Application deadline: February 1, 2022 

Application through the website: https://graduate.as.virginia.edu/rising-scholars. Please contact Sarah Betzer, Interim Chair, Department of Art, with questions:  sbetzer@virginia.edu

Filed Under: news

Announcing New Student Member Rates

December 7, 2021 By Kehinde Shobukonla

Student rates are now 15 USD for undergraduates, and 30 USD for graduate students (MA/PhD).

An ACASA Student Membership lets you…

  • Support your interest in African and African diaspora arts
  • Connect with colleagues across the globe via our events and Member Directory
  • Submit your PhD thesis for the Roy Sieber Dissertation Award (includes cash prize & article-writing mentorship)
  • Learn more about the field/share your news in our 3x a year Members Newsletter or via our social media accounts
  • Receive discounted rates for the Triennial Symposium on African
  • Gain opportunities to participate in ACASA-sponsored panels at major conferences like CAA and ASA  ……and more!

PS. Based in Africa or the Caribbean? Membership is always free

Join ACASA Today

Please share this widely with the students in your life!


With global membership, the Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA) promotes greater understanding of African material and expressive culture in all its many forms, and encourages contact and collaboration with African and Diaspora artists and scholars.

ACASA is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Transition: Atta Kwami, 1956 – 2021

December 7, 2021 By Kehinde Shobukonla

With a heavy heart, I deeply regret to announce the unfortunate passing of a dear friend, brother and colleague, (Dr.) Atta Kwami. Atta, as I called him, died on the afternoon of October 6, 2021 after succumbing to a fight with cancer.

He recently turned 65, on September 14, and we all wished him happiness, good health and long life. Even though I had learnt of the terminal nature of Atta’s illness, his positive response to all the birthday felicitations on social media was so heart-warming, little did I think he would leave us so soon. This makes his transition rather shocking and painful. He was hoping to have visited his dear homeland, Ghana, at least, for the last time, but it was never to be.

Atta Kwami was one of Ghana’s most internationally distinguished artists. He was not only a passionate and consummate painter, and installation artist, he was also an Art Historian, and wrote quite extensively on Ghanaian contemporary art. In 2013, he published the seminal book, “Kumasi Realism – An African Modernism, 1951 – 2007, which documented the development of contemporary art in Kumasi – Ghana’s second biggest city after Accra, the capital – where Kwami spent many years as student and lecturer at Ghana’s premier College of Art of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)

As a painter, Kwami had always had an experimental bent, right from the beginning. He started off as an Abstract Expressionist, working in the vein of the Action Painters, sticking pans and other detritus from the environment into his paintings. Shown in Ghana, they were quite a novelty on the largely conservative art terrain, where most artists at the time worked in the representational and figurative mode, intently capturing the genre of the day. His annual exhibitions he jointly held with the Painter/ Sculptor Kofi Setordji and the Painter Emmanuel Anku-Golloh at the Goethe Institute in Accra were very much looked up to with excitement. After many years, Kwami transformed from his earlier Ab Ex style of painting into a Geometric Lyrical Abstractionist, working with loosely constructed grids and strident but sonorous colors. His canvases vibrate with so much energy. In later years he translated these gridded paintings onto free-standing sculptures – monumental arcades, constructed with plywood, and kioks, which are ubiquitous in the Ghanaian urban landscape. While the gridded paintings on the arcades and kioks were hard-edged, his paintings on canvas remained loosely gridded.

Kwami established in Kumasi, Ghana the SaNsA International Artists Workshop, a wing of the International Triangle Artists Workshop (a brainchild of the British Master Sculptor Sir Anthony Caro), which brought local and international artists together for a couple of weeks, to work and exhibit their art. SaNsA in Ghana ran three iterations, from 2004 to 2009.

Kwami specially invited me to be part of the last installment of SaNsA in 2009, with my participation fee, boarding and lodging fully covered by the organization. Unfortunately, I couldn’t honor the invitation, because I had just lost my father and I was saddled with organizing his funeral. Later, in a phone conversation, Kwami told me what I had missed, that the event was immensely successful. “It was like an international biennale,” he excitedly chatted.

While teaching at KNUST, Kwami set up an avant-garde art journal, BAMBOLSE, with the assistance of two of his protégés, who were students at the Art College, the Painter and Musician Henri (Papa) Asare-Baah and the Painter George Afedzi Hughes. BAMBOLSE ran for a few years.

It is significant to mention here a distinguished art teacher of Kwami, who taught him in secondary school, at the prestigious Achimota School, in Accra, then, also, at KNUST Art College – preeminent Ghanaian Painter (Prof.) Ato Delaquis. Interestingly, they later became colleague teachers at the Art College, good friends and lived a few meters apart on the same street.

Kwami himself was born into an artistic family, his father, Robert Kwami, a music teacher and the mother, a prominent first generation Ghanaian contemporary artist, and teacher. She was Grace Kwami (nee Anku).

Kwami maintained studios between Loughborough, U. K. and Kumasi, Ghana.

Kwami and I participated in a number of major group exhibitions together, notable among them, (1): “West to West: Owusu-Ankomah and Friends,” 2013 at the State Gallery of Bremen, Bremen, Germany, which also featured Owusu-Ankomah himself, Bright Bimpong, Sokari Douglas Camp, Godfried Donkor, Romaould Hazoume, George Afedzi Hughes and Lawson Oyekan, and (2): “The Poetics of Cloth: African Textiles/Recent Art,” at the Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York, U. S. A, 2008, featuring other African giants, El Anatsui, Samuel Cophie, Viye Diba, Sokari Douglas Camp, Group Bogolan Kasobane, Abdoulaye Konate, Rachid Koraichi, Grace Ndiritu, Nike Okundaye, Owusu-Ankomah, Yinka Shonibare,, Malick Sidibe, Nontsikelelo “Lelo” Valeko and Sue Williams.

Kwami’s work was exhibited all over the world and featured in many important publications on contemporary African art. They found their way also into major private collections and museum holdings in Africa, Europe and the U. S. A., including, Movenpick Ambassador Hotel, Accra, Ghana; Ghana National Museum, Accra, Ghana; Kenya National Museum, Nairobi, Kenya; The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art (SNaMAA), Washington, D. C., U. S. A.; Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey, U. S. A.; Metropolitan Museum and Brooklyn Museum, both in New York City, NY, U. S. A.; the V & A and the British Museums, London, U. K. . Earlier this year, 2021, Kwami deservingly won the 2021 Maria Lassing Foundation Prize, which had a 50,000 Euro (£42,000) component; an exhibition project with the Serpentine Galleries, London and a monograph publication in 2022.

Kwami was represented in the U. K. by the Beadsmore Gallery, London; in Switzerland by the Nicholas Krupp Gallery, Basel, and in the United States by the Howard Scott Gallery, Chelsea, New York. He had at least three solo shows with his New York gallery, Howard Scott, before it closed down a few years ago.

Two of some of Kwami’s monumental public sculptures, a twin arcade rendered in his usual hard-edge, gridded, colorful composition, and a small cluster of kioks, painted in a similar manner, were on display at the Folkestone Triennial 2021 from July 22 to November 2, 2021. The exhibition was on when Kwami sadly passed. The twin arcade was titled, “Atsiafu fe agbo nu,” in his native Ewe (Ghana) language, which literally translates to, “Gateways of the Sea,” The colorful kiosk, also titled in Ewe, “Dusiadu,” which translates to, “Every Town,” emphasizing the ubiquity of the kioks, which come in varied shapes and colors and are a constant presence along the roads iin the urban centers in most Sub-Saharan African countries, especially, in the artist’s own country, Ghana, as I intimated earlier. These works were specially commissioned for the Folkestone Triennial 2021, which is U. K.’s biggest urban outdoor contemporary art exhibition, in the Kent coastal town of Folkestone, a former seaport.

Kwami was a keen intellectual, very erudite, I must say. Apart from our art, we shared a common passion – a crazy, inveterate indulgence in profuse art literature, art history, libraries, books and writing. We would often discuss new books we were reading. Kwami was always very much abreast with new publications on art, especially, African art, and he would recommend a book or two to me. On one of his visits home from the U. K., he brought me a gift of the newly published catalog on El Salahi, accompanying his retrospective at the Tate Modern, London, which I appreciated very much. It has a special place in my library.

I do not know when Kwami joined ACASA  (The Arts Council of the African Studies Association). As far as I could remember, he had always been a member of ACASA. He was already a member before the advent of the Internet in Ghana. He must have joined the association in the 1980s or early 1990s.

Being one of the longest standing living Ghanaian members of this august association, it was just appropriate the mantle fell on Atta Kwami to deliver the keynote address at the opening of the 17th ACASA Triennial Symposium on African Art, which took place in Accra, Ghana; at the verdant University of Ghana – Legon campus. This was the first time ACASA, obviously the biggest body in the world with its members specializing in the study and scholarship of African art, and the material and expressive cultures of the African continent, in its over-five-decades of existence was having its triennial conference on African soil.

From March through May 2010, Kwami was an artist-in-residence at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington, D. C., which is strongly affiliated to ACASA, having won the second edition of the Philip Ravenhill Fellowship, the first having been won by the artist, writer, academic and fellow ACASA member, Dr. Tobenna Okwuosa. The Ravenhill Fellowship was awarded by the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Fowler Museum, another strong affiliate of ACASA, and instituted in memory of Philip Ravenhill, Chief Curator of the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, (1987 – 97).

At the end of his residency at the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Atta Kwami was in conversation with the esteemed Art Historian, Prof. Sylvester Ogbechie of University of California, Santa Barbara; who is, also, the Founder and Editor of the journal, “Critical Interventions, ” and a long-standing member of ACASA. This was in the Fall of 2010, at the Fowler Museum and it was part of the museum’s public programming, “Fowler Outspoken Conversation.” The topic under conversation was, “Africa and Modernity.” The two gentlemen explored modernity and African art as embodied in university and local art practices in West Africa, specifically, Ghana.

Atta was a gentleman, in the truest sense of the word. He always had a calm disposition about him and would welcome you with a broad smile. He was always gracious in his manners, generous and humble.

Atta Kwami died in the U. K. His mortal remains was interred in a simple but colorful ceremony, attended by friends and family, at the Prestwold Natural Ground Cemetery, Loughborough, in Central U. K. on Friday, October 15.

Atta Kwami was survived by his dear artist spouse, Printmaker Pamela Clarkson-Kwami. My heartfelt condolences to Pamela, his numerous friends and family (home and abroad) and the Ghanaian art world. Ghana has, indeed, lost a rare gem of an artist and an intellectual!

Journey well, my brother. I wish you eternal rest in the bosom of the Lord, our Creator.

DAMIRAFA DUE!!!…

DAMIRAFA DUE!!!…

DAMIRAFA DUE!!!…

DUE NE AMENEHU!!!!!!!…..

By Rikki Wemega – Kwawu

Filed Under: Obituary

Remembering Yusuf Grillo (1934–2021)

December 4, 2021 By Kehinde Shobukonla

We remember Yusuf Adebayo Cameron Grillo, who passed away on August 23, 2021 at the age of 86 after a brief illness. A foremost artist, administrator, and educator, he leaves behind an indelible imprint on the landscape of contemporary Nigerian art.

Born in the Brazilian Quarter of Lagos in 1934, Grillo had an early interest in art and mathematics in school. He continued these activities into his university education at the Nigerian College of Arts, Science, and Technology (now Ahmadu Bello University) in Zaria. While there, he and a group of fellow students including Uche Okeke, Bruce Onobrakpeya, Demas Nwoko, and Simon Okeke formed the Zaria Art Society in 1958. Art Society members challenged their Eurocentric education and sought to establish an artistic mode more fitting for a nation on the eve of its independence. They developed an artistic philosophy they called “Natural Synthesis,” which advocated merging indigenous Nigerian subject matter and forms with select European techniques.

Grillo took this synthesis as a foundation to develop a painting practice that presented Nigerian life through a palette of rich hues and fractalized compositions. He was a renowned colorist, and his canvases are often characterized by their different tonalities of blue. Grillo found inspiration for his artistic subject matter in people he knew, scenes he encountered on the streets of Lagos, Yoruba spiritual beliefs, and oriki. His artwork, for the most part, centered on the human figure and he is perhaps most well-known for his portrayals of Yoruba women and musicians. Indeed, these predominant themes reflected his compositional concerns. While Grillo greatly admired European Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, the influence of which can be seen in his thick brushstrokes and expressive use of color, he also seemed to have found equal inspiration in Yoruba dress and music. The linear and geometric qualities of the flowing folds of his figures’ garments often extended into the rest of the composition, and the layered angular divisions in his canvases imbued them with a certain rhythm.

Grillo would famously spend years creating his paintings. He worked on several works at once, stopping, starting, and returning to the canvases over long periods of time. In fact, he was in the habit of not signing his paintings because he never saw them as completed. For Grillo, the painting process involved a back-and-forth between the artist and the canvas that merged the conscious with the unconscious and unfolded organically. Rather than deeming a painting “finished,” he decided to move on only after he finally felt he could let go of it.

In addition to his painting practice, Grillo created stained glass pieces and a number of sculptural public artworks. The medium of stained glass particularly lent itself to Grillo’s interest in mathematics and the geometric division of his compositions. Perhaps his most well-known public artworks are his mosaic mural at Lagos’s City Hall and his cement murals at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport. With these works, Grillo contributed to the city he called home throughout his life.

Grillo has also been an important presence in the professionalization of the Nigerian art world. He was a founding member of the Nigerian Society of Artists (SNA) in 1963, and in 1964, he was elected the organization’s first president. Under his tenure, the SNA participated in yearly independence celebration exhibitions. He also brought the SNA into the UNESCO-affiliated International Association of Art, which led to opportunities for him and SNA representatives to travel and exhibit internationally.

Grillo received his post-graduate diploma in education in 1961 and also studied arts education at the University of Cambridge in 1966. His role as an educator has had a lasting impact on Nigerian art. He taught at Yaba College of Technology for decades, at times serving as Head of the Department of Art, Design & Printing and Rector for the entire institution until his retirement. Grillo was passionate about teaching his students the foundational methods of art-making as the building blocks to develop their own artistic language. Although he was a towering pillar in the Nigerian art world, he did not encourage followers. Instead, he pushed his students to move beyond his and his fellow pioneers’ influences to find their own visual modes and approaches. Today, the art gallery on campus bears his name.

Grillo was celebrated as one of Nigeria’s leading contemporary artists throughout his lifetime, receiving recognition through numerous honors and awards. These included first prize at the All African Competition in Painting in 1972, the laudatory retrospective “Master of Masters: Yusuf Grillo” at Nigeria’s National Gallery of Art in 2006, and becoming the namesake for the Yusuf Grillo Pavilion, an exhibition space in Ikorodu, Lagos that exhibits many of Nigeria’s foremost artists.

Grillo’s life and work leaves us with a lasting presence: his name is quite literally etched into the cultural infrastructure of Nigeria. His memory will be continued by his family, his students, his peers in the Nigerian art world, and those in the ACASA community who had the privilege to meet and know him.

By Rebecca Wolff

Filed Under: Obituary

Next Page »

About ACASA

ACASA, the Arts Council of the African Studies Association, promotes greater understanding of African material and expressive culture in all its many forms, and encourages contact and collaboration with African and Diaspora artists and scholars.

Obituaries

Here you can find the obituaries for colleagues who unfortunately left us much too early.

 

Newsletter

To submit information for the ACASA Newsletter, please use this form.

 

Search

Copyright © 2023 Arts Council of the African Studies Association