Two recent shows on Exhibition Road focus in very different ways on Africa. The more scholarly Rediscovering African Geographies uses maps from the Royal Geographical Society’s (RGS) collection to present what it says are “new insights into Africa, its people, societies and relationship with the wider world”.
But more accurately, this exhibition reveals to a European market what has been known in African academic and African lay historian’s circles forever. It repositions Africa by rewriting some of the captions that originally explained the RGS’s images of ancient and colonial Africa and its people.
That’s not to say there isn’t anything for the clued-up African visitor to learn. The RGS is quite adept at packing in vital information in its small temporary exhibition space.
The exhibition questions how is it that Africa was the cradle of humanity and human civilisation but Africa’s importance to the story of humanity is absent from media reports.
To the V&A, and its new paying exhibition Figures and Fictions: Contemporary South African Photography is in contrast to the RGS exhibition in that the depth comes in the pictures themselves rather than the accompanying miniscule description.
The majority of the 17 photographers (all living and working in South Africa) use devices such as unexpected juxtapositions and blurring cultural and gender boundaries – with some resulting confusion for the viewer.
Some of the more striking images are of tweed-clad young men who have just returned from their initiation ceremony, the poor white couple who are cradling a young boy in what looks like a family portrait but a prosthetic leg warrants explanation, and the confidence of the street fashions of the “born free” generation.
The photographs make a statement and some leave a lasting effect. The images are diverse and reveal how different people live their lives above and below the radar.
It’s great to see Africa in the spotlight but I wonder how many of the European visitors will be able to or care to answer some of the questions the exhibitions ask.
But more accurately, this exhibition reveals to a European market what has been known in African academic and African lay historian’s circles forever. It repositions Africa by rewriting some of the captions that originally explained the RGS’s images of ancient and colonial Africa and its people.
That’s not to say there isn’t anything for the clued-up African visitor to learn. The RGS is quite adept at packing in vital information in its small temporary exhibition space.
The exhibition questions how is it that Africa was the cradle of humanity and human civilisation but Africa’s importance to the story of humanity is absent from media reports.
To the V&A, and its new paying exhibition Figures and Fictions: Contemporary South African Photography is in contrast to the RGS exhibition in that the depth comes in the pictures themselves rather than the accompanying miniscule description.
The majority of the 17 photographers (all living and working in South Africa) use devices such as unexpected juxtapositions and blurring cultural and gender boundaries – with some resulting confusion for the viewer.
Some of the more striking images are of tweed-clad young men who have just returned from their initiation ceremony, the poor white couple who are cradling a young boy in what looks like a family portrait but a prosthetic leg warrants explanation, and the confidence of the street fashions of the “born free” generation.
The photographs make a statement and some leave a lasting effect. The images are diverse and reveal how different people live their lives above and below the radar.
It’s great to see Africa in the spotlight but I wonder how many of the European visitors will be able to or care to answer some of the questions the exhibitions ask.
