Africa Centre

01/04/2019

Call for Applications: World Bank Scholarships Program
http://ow.ly/htNC30ogXD9

scholarships

28/03/2019

We're delighted to bring the 2018 Artists in Residency Application season to a close with this announcement of our AIR - Bellagio Winners! Well done! http://ow.ly/gwJT30od2g4

21/03/2019

Africa Centre will be taking ITC to Mbombela. There is so much talent and i am excited to be part of this project. Looking forward in visiting the Province. Watch out here we come!!

07/03/2019

Calling for Applications (Nairobi - based Opportunity.)
Public Events at the McMillan Memorial Libraries.
Application Deadline: 14th March 2019
http://ow.ly/UTuH30nX3Ep

07/03/2019

Friends in New York, our Artists in Residency partner, Rohina Ali is hosting their 25th Anniversary Spring Fundraiser on 4th April. Do support this incredible space. http://ow.ly/ZXrZ30nX3B7

13/02/2019

We're gutted to hear of Bisi Silva's passing. She served Africa Centre's program on several occasions in various capacities. May her work continue to live through those she worked with and inspired. Rest, Bisi. http://ow.ly/rNQW30nGHin

The independent curator and founder of Lagos' Centre for Contemporary Art lost her battle with cancer.​

08/02/2019

Meet the AIR 2018 Award Winners. Well done!
http://www.africacentre.net/air-2018-winner-announcement/

06/02/2019

Meet Wangui Wa Goro is an intellectual, writer, critic, translator and researcher from Kenya now on our . She has particular interest in the development of African languages and literature. Wa Goro is an active participant in the promotion of literary translation internationally. She has translated the works of great authors such as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. Her writing includes essays, poetry, short stories, fiction and non-fiction. She has been very vocal in matters human rights both in Africa and in Europe. She has also been a part of boards such as the Women's Studies Network UK and the African Literature Association.

06/02/2019

Younes Baba-Ali is a visual and sound artist from Morocco. He mixes technology, objects, sound, video and photography with political, social and ecological issues to impact, influence and move his audience into making a decison or taking a stand. Graduating from l’Ecole Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Strasbourg in 2008, and from l’Ecole Supérieure
d’Art d’Aix-en-Provence in 2011, he was rewarded by the prize “Léopold Sédar Senghor”, during the African
Contemporary Art Biennial of Dakar (Sn) in 2012 and the prize “Boghossian”, during the Belgian Art Prize
“Art’Contest” in Brussels (Be) in 2014.
He is now on our .

05/02/2019

Kiprop Kimutai is a Nairobi-based writer whose fiction has appeared in Kwani? Trust, Jalada Africa, Painted Bride Quarterly, No Tokens, Kachifo, New internationalist and Acre Books. In 2017, he was invited to South Africa as a panelist for the Franschhoek Literary Festival and as a speaker for the Future Nations Schools Book Fair. He has also participated in the Caine Prize, Farafina and Kwani Trust?/Granta workshops. Kiprop has been shortlisted for the Miles Morland Scholarship and the Gerald Kraak Award, and was the second runner’s up for the Kwani? Manuscript Project for his manuscript The Water Spirits. As an editor, he solicited and curated poetic verse from q***r Africans for the anthology Walking the Tightrope: Poetry and Prose by LGBTQ Writers from Africa (Lethe Press, 2016). He was on the Kweli Scholar Program fellowship and is working on his novel.

05/02/2019

Meet Olalekan Jeyifous, a Nigerian-born, Brooklyn-based artist and designer on our . In May 2000, he received a Bachelor's degree in Architecture from Cornell University where his primary focus was experimenting with the application of various computer software in the creation of art, design and architecture. After graduating, he enjoyed a 4 year tenure as a senior designer at the inimitable dbox before continuing on to pursue my creative compulsions full-time. Since then he has been fortunate enough to exhibit his artwork in venues throughout the world as well as create beautiful visuals for a variety of amazing clients.

05/02/2019

Nengi Omuku has been described as one of Africa’s finest contemporary artists. She sees painting as a documentation of events that unfold around her. Her work is inspired by the body and the complexities that surround identity and difference. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Fine Art at the Slade School of Fine Art in London (2012). Through her works, she has been a recipient of awards, for example the British Council CHOGM Art Award. Omuku has held exhibitions in London, Atlanta and Lagos, making her work well known internationally. We are pleased to have her on our .

04/02/2019

Next on our is Victoria-Idongesit Udonian, hailing from Nigeria, trained as a tailor and fashion designer before studying art. She investigates how fundamental changes in fabric can affect one’s perception of his or her identity through engaging with West African textiles. Udondian holds an MFA from Columbia University and studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine, (2016). She got a BA in Painting at the University of Uyo, Nigeria (2004). Her works have been exhibited internationally, for instance, at the Fisher Landau Centre for the Arts, New York, Historic Columbia Museum site, Columbia and US; Rush Gallery, New York among others.

04/02/2019

Meet Akin Omotoso, a Nigerian actor, writer and film director on our . He studied drama at The University of Cape Town. He won The Standard Bank Young Artist Of The Year in 2007. Television work includes directed on A Place Called Home (for which he won Best Director at The South African Film and Television Awards). Akin has produced and directed four feature films. God Is African and the award winning Man On Ground (official selection to Toronto and Berlin and AMVCA Best Director ). His box office hit romantic comedy Tell Me Sweet Something won him a second Best Director Award at the 2016 AMVCA’s and Best Narrative Feature Film at The BlackStar Festival in Philladelphia. His film Vaya, premiered at The Toronto International Film Festival on September 9th 2016 and won The Special Jury Prize For Outstanding Film at AFRIFF 2016. Vaya has since played at the Berlin International Film festival and was the opening night film at the New York African Film Festival. In 2017, He won Best Director for Vaya at The African Movie Academy Awards.
His latest film is the documentary The Color Of Wine and he is in post production on his new film The Ghost And The House Of Truth. His acting credits include Lord Of War, Shake Hands With The Devil, Hector And The Search For Happiness, Queen of Katwe, A Hotel Called Memory and Catching Feelings.

04/02/2019

04/02/2019

Mbitihi Masya is a Kenyan born film maker, writer and artist is now on our . He began his career in advertising, and has directed ads for some of Kenya’s most prominent brands, including Safaricom, Barclays, Coca Cola, Google Kenya, among others. He has been a part of the highly acclaimed experimental art collective JUST A BAND. Mbithi’s first feature film, Kati Kati, had its world premiere in the discover program at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.
The film was selected and awarded by the International Federation of Film Critics (fipresci) for the discovery programme. It went on to win the New Voices/New Visions Award Special Mention at the Palm Springs International Festival, the Filmpris at the 19th CinemAfrica Film Festival in Stockholm, the Emerging Filmmaker Award at the 2017 Minneapolis St Paul International Film Festival, and the Best East African Film award at the 2017 Africa Movie Viewers Choice Awards.

03/02/2019

Salem Mekuria is an Ethiopian filmmaker, video artist and educator. She studied Political Science and Journalism at Macalester College. She then earned a MA in education technology and media production from San Francisco State University in 1978. She is a film writer, director and producer who does Ethiopian-related films and video installations that are shown internationally. Salem Mekuria is a professor in the Art Department at Wellesley College. Some of her films include Our Place In The Sun (1988), which was nominated for an Emmy Award and Ye Wonz Maibel (Deluge) (1997), which won first place in the National Black Programming Consortium's Prized Pieces. We are pleased to have her on our .

03/02/2019

Meet Zoe Wicomb, an author and an academic on our . Some of the books she has authored include You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town (1987), David's Story (2000) and The One That Got Away (2008) among others. Her books have been translated into German, French, Swedish, Dutch and Italian. She has also published a number of articles of criticism of literature. She has been recognized for her works as she won the M-Net Prize in 2001.

03/02/2019

Malebo Sephodi is a South African writer and researcher. With over 6 years corporate and just over 20 years’ community development experience, Malebo has worked and spoken in various parts of Africa, Europe and the Americas. She has worked with many Schools, NGO’s and the private sector tackling numerous socio-economic projects.
She has been listed by Okay Africa as top 100 women in Africa 2018 and Mail and Guardian Top 200 Young People 2018. She is the recipient of the Fabulous Woman Brave Award 2018 and Gauteng Legislature Vita Basadi Award (Runner Up). She joins our .

02/02/2019

Lindokuhle Nkosi is a writer from South Africa whose textual work often merges with installation and performance. She has written for numerous publications, and has curated exhibitions and projects at galleries and in the public space. While floating across different genres – journalistic, reflective, experimental – her work is consistently insightful, rich in textures, and engaged with realities. She is now on our and we are more than pleased to have her.

02/02/2019

Gerald Machona is an emerging Zimbabwean born Visual artist with a Bachelors degree in Fine art from the University of Cape Town, which he completed at the Michaelis School of fine arts in 2009.
He has taken part in various group exhibitions; most notably ‘US II’ curated by Bettina Malcomess and Simon Njami at the Iziko South African National Gallery. He is currently pursuing his Masters degree at Rhodes University where he is a recipient of a Mellon foundation scholarship and a researcher for the Visual and performing arts of Africa research team. In 2011 he was selected as one of the top 10 emerging young African arts practicing in South Africa, in a publication by Business day South Africa for the Johannesburg Art Fair. Gerald Machona primarily works as a visual artist and uses sculpture, performance, new media and video Installation in his work. The most notable aspect of his work is his innovative use of currency as an aesthetic material.
Welcome onto our .

02/02/2019

Next on our is Helen Moffett, a poet, freelance editor, writer, teacher and scholar. She has published university textbooks, a treasury of landscape writings, Lovely Beyond Any Singing, a cricket book (The Art and Science of Cricket, with the late Bob Woolmer and Tim Noakes), an animal charity anthology (Stray, with Diane Awerbuck) and the Girl Walks In erotica series (with Sarah Lotz and Paige Nick under the nom de plume Helena S. Paige). She also has two poetry collections to her name – Strange Fruit(2009) and Prunings(2016). She also works as a teacher, training and facilitating workshops, both in South Africa and abroad.

01/02/2019

Raimi Olakunle Gbadamosi is a South African writer and visual artist. Gbadamosi holds a BA in fine art from Staffordshire University(1994), an MA in fine art from Manchester Metropolitan University (1995) and a doctorate in fine art from The Slade, London, in 2001. He has published journals, online, and catalogue essays. He has exhibited his shows both locally and internationally. Gbadamosi’s work cuts across craft, web media, music, writing and audience participation. He has curated and co-curated exhibitions in the past. He addresses ethnicity, race and culture.

01/02/2019

We're excited to be part of the African Leadership Academy's annual Symposium taking place tomorrow from 8:30am.

We are on a panel discussing ways in which African artists are transforming existing boundaries on our continent through their work. What are the challenges that they must overcome to do so?

Who are some boundary-breaking artists in your community?

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beyond-boundaries-ala-annual-symposium-2019-tickets-55070552505

Last year, African Leadership Academy celebrated 10 years of identifying, developing and connecting the most promising young leaders on the African continent. As part of our Decennial celebrations, we convened a 1-day symposium on our campus in Johannesburg. Dozens of African thought leaders partici...

01/02/2019

Meet Verashni Pillay, a South African journalist and editor. She was the editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post South Africa and the Mail & Guardian. She is currently head of digital at South African radio station, POWER 98.7. She was an early adopter of digital within journalism, winning two first-time digital categories at traditional journalism awards. In 2012 she won the prestigious CNN African Journalist of the Year award in the inaugural digital journalism category. In 2013 she won the inaugural Standard Bank Sikuvile award for multiplatform journalism. Pillay has written extensively about race and gender. She contributed an essay to the collection, Categories of Persons (2013) about popular culture and language. In 2015 she was appointed as the editor-in-chief of the Mail & Guardian. We are honoured to have her on our .

01/02/2019

Heran Abate is a creative non-fiction writer who also dabbles in other mediums of storytelling, now on our . Previously, she won an Emmy Award for an interactive short film she co-produced. She has since moved back from NYC to Addis Ababa to hunt and gather stories through a number of endeavors in film, agriculture and event management.

31/01/2019

Meet Philip Miller, a South African, international composer and sound artist now on our . His work mostly develops from collaboration in theatre, film, video and sound installations. He has composed soundtracks for film and television both locally and internationally. Some of the films he has composed for have won awards, such as Black Butterflies; which was awarded best film score at the South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTA). Miller is currently an honorary fellow at The Research Initiative in Archive and Public Culture at the University of Cape Town.

31/01/2019

Omar Ba is a contemporary artist from Senegal now on our . He is known for his paintings which merge figurative and decorative motifs. Ba has showcased his art internationally; in exhibitions in Africa, Europe, and the United States. He has done several solo as well as group shows. He aims to, through his work, ‘tell the stories and weave a thread between’ African and European culture. Ba has received numerous awards including the prestigious Swiss Art Award.

31/01/2019

Kitso Lelliott is an artist and filmmaker from Botswana. She holds a bachelor’s degree in fine art and a masters in film and television from The University of the Witwatersrand. Her work has shown at film-festivals, art galleries and museum shows around the world. She is alumna of the Berlinale Talents in Durban and Berlin. She was one of the Mail & Guardian’s leading 200 young South Africans, was laureate of the French Institute 2015 Visas pour la création grant and exhibited in the Bamako Encounters 2015. We are honored to have her on our .

30/01/2019

Gabeba Baderoon is a South African Poet and academic. As a media scholar, Gabeba has written on representations of Islam, on ‘race’ and on art. She wrote her dissertation entitled "Oblique Figures: Representations of Islam in South African Media and Culture." Baderoon is an award-winning creative writer who has authored three poetry collections: A hundred silences (2006), a finalist for the University of Johannesburg Prize and the Olive Schreiner Award, The Dream in the Next Body (2005), and Silence Before Speaking (2005). Her poems have appeared in Cultural Studies and Feminist among others. We are pleased to have her on the .