Francis Mobio

My participation in the Sinergia project "Other Modernities: Patrimony and Practices of Visual Expression Outside the West" is to provide an audio-visual support for serveral researchers linked to the project, particularly publishing documents online for dissimenation and valorization of their research. It will also document public activities such as seminars and conferences.

African potographers words

African photography knows an unprecedented developpement. In Africa, in Europe, and in the USA, Biennials, festivals and exhibitions open their doors to african photography and attract wide audience. The pictures taken by Africans arouse more and more the interest of curators, critics and collectors... Since the late 70s, photography has become one of the main media of contemporary art and many african photogtaphers and visual artists are now recognized as important actors on global art scene.

A short list of photgraphers and visual artists can help us to understand quickly how dynamic this scene is : Abdoulaye Barry (Chad), Mohamed Camara (Mali), Nestor Da (Burkina Faso), Fatoumata Diabate (Mali), Husain and Hasan Essop (South Africa), Uche Okpa-Iroha (Nigeria), Jehad Nga (Kenya / Libya) Nyani Quarmyne (Ghana), Arturo Bibang (Equatorial Guinea), Baudouin Mouanda (Congo Brazzaville), Zanele Muholi (South Africa), Nyaba Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso), Sammy Baloji (DRC), Allan Souza (Kenya), Samuel Fosso (Cameroon), Seydou Keita (Mali), Santu Mofokeng (South Africa), Zanele Muholi (South Africa), JD Okhai Ojeikere (Mali).

The project will involve the meeting with authors, artists, researchers / curators / gallerists for making short video portraits, a serie of meetings "camera in hand", considerating the way that some african photographers are experimentating the world of global contemporary art. How are they reclaiming varieties of historical productions, symbolically and materially ? Which discursive regimes and strategies these artists employed to negotiate their existence on art scene? How do they respond to the curatorial requirements unfolding in public or private institutions of art?

In fact, these video portraits should bring the actors' singular answers and shoud trace a part of their itinerary in current artistic landscape.

Is added the possibility to have a first approach of the implications of this new visual african production on western gaze concerning Blacks portraying, and more widely, imaginary world relating to Africa.

Sub project B
Cultural heritage, art and visual performances in non-western societies