How often do we hear Africans described as: creative, beautiful, industrious and hopeful? Not that often in the western media.
But I am pleased that this is the description given by the new partners of Tate – one of the main African banks operating in Africa.
In fact, Segun Agbaje of the Guaranty Trust Bank gives us more. “At Guaranty Trust Bank, we believe that art is an intricate part of the African heritage and a complete reflection of everything it means to be African; creative, beautiful, industrious and hopeful,” he says.
“This conviction has led to our involvement in numerous art-promoting initiatives over the years and is the bedrock for this new partnership with Tate.”
This partnership follows the bank’s sponsorship of the Chris Ofili retrospective at Tate Britain last year and also Yinka Shonibare’s Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle which graces Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth.
It’s thanks to Guaranty that the wider UK community can enjoy African art. The three-year partnership involves a new curatorial post at Tate Modern to focus on African art, an acquisition fund to enable Tate to enhance its holdings of work by African artists, and an annual project in London and an African city to enable artists, curators, collectors and cultural institutions internationally to get involved.
It is fitting that Nigeria, the region that historically gave the world some astounding art, takes the lead on researching and highlighting not only contemporary art across Africa, but also engendering an understanding of the impact of art from
the world’s second-largest continent.
I am impressed with the bank having the foresight to not only concentrate on the contemporary, but to share the knowledge with the world of Africa’s traditional artistic practices.
Not only will it do this through the partnership, but it funds an annual festival in Nigeria that aims to restimulate interest in the lost art of bronze casting through workshops and exhibitions.
Tate promises it will be “giving African art the focus it deserves with audiences around the world”. I look forward to that.
But I am pleased that this is the description given by the new partners of Tate – one of the main African banks operating in Africa.
In fact, Segun Agbaje of the Guaranty Trust Bank gives us more. “At Guaranty Trust Bank, we believe that art is an intricate part of the African heritage and a complete reflection of everything it means to be African; creative, beautiful, industrious and hopeful,” he says.
“This conviction has led to our involvement in numerous art-promoting initiatives over the years and is the bedrock for this new partnership with Tate.”
This partnership follows the bank’s sponsorship of the Chris Ofili retrospective at Tate Britain last year and also Yinka Shonibare’s Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle which graces Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth.
It’s thanks to Guaranty that the wider UK community can enjoy African art. The three-year partnership involves a new curatorial post at Tate Modern to focus on African art, an acquisition fund to enable Tate to enhance its holdings of work by African artists, and an annual project in London and an African city to enable artists, curators, collectors and cultural institutions internationally to get involved.
It is fitting that Nigeria, the region that historically gave the world some astounding art, takes the lead on researching and highlighting not only contemporary art across Africa, but also engendering an understanding of the impact of art from
the world’s second-largest continent.
I am impressed with the bank having the foresight to not only concentrate on the contemporary, but to share the knowledge with the world of Africa’s traditional artistic practices.
Not only will it do this through the partnership, but it funds an annual festival in Nigeria that aims to restimulate interest in the lost art of bronze casting through workshops and exhibitions.
Tate promises it will be “giving African art the focus it deserves with audiences around the world”. I look forward to that.
