African Conceptualism
By Cindy Tibazarwa
It is hard to deny African art's influence on the concept of abstraction and deconstruction of art on Western artists. African artists have contributed to modern art movements, especially the conceptual art movement, which arguably has been practiced on the African continent centuries before the periodization of 'conceptual art' in 60s Europe and North America. One cannot overlook the lack of presence of African artists in this history without acknowledging the perception of African art at the time as primitive and the lack of the art community in viewing their African counterparts as capable of making 'high art". This paper will explore African conceptualism through African artists rather than a debate on the chronological timeline of when conceptual art began.
As with global conceptualism, it is easier to say when the movement began in Africa, especially with an agreed-upon parameter on what constitutes conceptual art. One must start by examining what conceptual art is. For the most part, art academics agree it is the dematerialization of the art object- the art of an idea (Hassan & Olu, 2001). Precolonial African artists were using abstract configurations of forms to perceive nature through art objects such as masks, pots, fabrics, modeled figures, and adornments which would then, in turn, be used in performances too (Osuanyi & Ebenezer, 2016). With the increase of globalization, the ritualism and use of the body found their way into conceptual art, making it a "truly international phenomenon," feeding off different cultures (Hassan & Olu, 2001). The emphasis is on the ideas conveyed rather than the object themselves. Okwui Enwezor (2001) describes African art as "object-bound but paradoxically anti-object and antiperceptual." In this description, African art fits some conceptual art considerations as it restructures the viewer's relationship to the art object.
In the 60s/70s America, more artists began exploring avant-garde art as a critique on institutions and politics. Their African counterparts were doing the same across the ocean. After the victories of independence from colonial powers washed over, many African countries soon faced dictator regimes. We begin to see an influx of avant-gardism and a practice of art that is to be considered conceptual. Groups like the Laboratoire AGIT’art formed in 1973-74 Dakar aimed to change the nature of Senegalese art by looking at art as an idea and an action. They practiced art as activism against the postcolonial state like other artists, musicians, and performers, such as Fela Kuti. Artists like Frederic Bruly Bouabre and Rachid Koraïchi create works in text and language classically conceptual in the United States and Europe but simultaneously change the criteria for what is considered conceptual. Moving on South were the works of Malcolm Payne and Willem Boshoff, whose art was coming out under the violent and political laws of apartheid in South Africa at the time. Kendell Geers, in 1995, emptied an entire room of the Johannesburg Art Gallery as an attack on the institution itself and enforced the idea that art can refuse the ideologies of the museum practice (Enwezor, 2001).
One key factor that makes conceptualists who they are is their commitment to going against the grain and challenging the institutions. The conceptual art movement was not a one-way lane from Europe and the United States to African countries. However, the interconnectedness is much more intricate, with several lanes and crossovers. There is a need for more research and literature on African conceptual artists and conceptual movements to document and create a map of how different cultures globally have informed and influenced one another in this international phenomenon. Initiatives such as the one done by the Sharjah Art Foundation on the Sudanese modernism(s) movement through extensive research and exhibitions in 2016 are a great way for the art community to begin this mapping.
