In 1997, the then 20-year-old Joël Andrianomearisoa appeared on the cover of pioneering contemporary African culture magazine Revue Noire, when its 26th edition was dedicated to Madagascar.
A little more than a quarter of century later on, the art space he established in the Madagascan capital, Antananarivo, is bringing the publication’s photography collection to African audiences for the very first time.
Certainly, the show The Spirit of Revue Noire: An Establishing Collection (L’ Esprit Revue Noire, une Collection Fondatrice) is a story of firsts: the very first exhibition of the magazine’s collection in Africa, and the inaugural international program at Hakanto Contemporary, which is itself the first not-for-profit art area to arrive on the Madagascan art scene.From its launch in 1991 till its last concern in 2001, the bilingual (French/English )Revue Noire published work by more than 3,500 artists working in Africa and the diaspora across literature, art, design, dance, music, theatre and, especially, photography. The show’s curators(and two of the magazine
‘s founders ), French architects Jean Loup Pivin and Pascal Martin Saint Léon, note that the objective of Revue Noire was to demonstrate the rich variety of African art, mainly neglected in the mainstream western art world at the time; if the publication was about revealing the world African art, then the exhibition represents something of a homecoming.” The Revue Noire vision returning to the continent– that is among the show’s primary declarations,”Andrianomearisoa, Hakanto’s creator and artistic director, informs Euronews Culture.The choice of Antananarivo for this homecoming is not coincidental:”In Madagascar,
photography has long been the primary form of artistic expression. Tana(Antananarivo ), especially, has an abundant history of photographic practices,” says Pivin. Nevertheless, only a handful of the 140 photos on show– themselves however a fraction of the magazine’s collection– are by Madagascan professional photographers. Instead, The Spirit of Revue Noire: An Establishing Collection presents an engaging study of African
photography, analyzing its development from the late 19th century to the modern age, and placing Madagascan photography within the context of the practice throughout the wider continent.”I ‘d like the audience to comprehend the value not only of the collection however of the history and of the visual; we are not just an island, we are linked to this African history, consisting of in regards to photography, “Andrianomearisoa explains. This objective is reflected in the show’s layout: an external ring of rooms, tracing the advancement of
photography throughout the continent through the work of nearly 30 global artists, encircles a 2nd area, showcasing the 1997 Madagascar concern. Local photography, for that reason, is highlighted and honoured, and at the exact same time anchored within the context of a broader African practice.Grouped loosely into 3 chronological chapters, the journey through the show starts in the late 1800s with the “Pioneers”. According to Pivin and Martin, a lot of these very first African photographers used their experience working in European studios or serving in colonial armies to set up by themselves. This chapter charts the increase of picture photography– initially in clients ‘houses, then in purpose-built studios, satisfying the needs of
what the curators describe as the”emerging African bourgeoisie”, as well as the stable need for identity images under the colonial administrations. It’s here that Madagascan photography takes centre stage: among the very first photographers to whom visitors are presented are Joseph
Razaka(1871-1939), who opened the very first photography studio in Antananarivo with his boy in 1889; and Ramilijaona(1887-1938 ), referred to as the daddy of modern-day photography in Madagascar and a pioneer portraitist. In parallel, itinerant press professional photographers were entrusted with touring and documenting the continent, with the image of Congolese professional photographer Antoine Freitas taking photos
surrounded by a crowd in the country’s Kasaï province among the exhibit’s most fascinating. Pictures of people surrounded by household pictures, thanks to a confidential professional photographer from Saint-Louis in Senegal(c. 1939 ), suggest the high value placed on photography at
the time. Pivin argues, nevertheless, that at this phase the incentive was an industrial one:”Photography was a business and a technical skill, not an art.”Staged portraiture gives way for fluidity and vitality in the exhibit’s second chapter,”The Sun, Increase of Independences “. The 1950s-70s saw professional photographers endeavor out of their studios and into the streets, with many recording the jubilation of liberty from colonial rule, together with the aggravations and difficulties dealt with in the freshly independent states. New innovations such as the electronic flash allowed professional photographers to record the joyful freneticism of the continent’s clubs, with young people starting to see themselves in images akin to those so familiar from
western magazines. Angolan-born photographer Jean Depara( 1928-1978)was, for instance, famed for his capturing the vibrant nightlife scene in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo; Malick Sidibé, meanwhile, chronicled the culture of
1960s Bamako, the Malian capital, in the wake of its self-reliance. “The photographers provide an Africa finding a brand-new freedom, a newfound pride and a new future,” Pivin and Martin affirm. Though studios stayed popular, they too adjusted, with set-ups handling a brand-new originality: from Seydou Keïta’s( 1923-2001)introduction of props and lively backgrounds to his photoshoots with urban Malian society, to the practically theatrical postures struck by subjects(clad in the most recent fashions, borrowed for the celebration, and even wrestling attire )at the Kinshasa studio of Angolan-born Ambroise Ngaimoko( b. 1949). The end of the 20th century, state the managers, saw photographers in Africa “taking part in an essentially visual pursuit”. Now functioning as artists, professional photographers took on bigger concerns: identity, charm and the human experience. It’s these currents that are charted in the exhibition’s final chapter, “Pursuit of an Aesthetic “. Though dealing with portraiture– a kind when determined by the desires of the topic– the diligently crafted structures of Nigerian professional photographer Rotomi Fani-Kayode (1955-1989)are certainly
the item of his own artistic vision and manage to be both intimate and political, exploring the stress of race, sexuality, desire and spirituality. Bringing an even more individual dimension to this investigation of identity, some artists explore self-portraits. Especially jailing is the simultaneous vulnerability and power communicated in the”White series”of Congolese artist Alain Nzuzi-Polo (b. 1985), his kind otherwise veiled, broken and cast amongst fruits
as part of a still life– fluid, abstract and devoid of norms surrounding bodies and gender.Notably, beyond being organized into loose chapters and accompanied by texts presenting the artists(as well as screenings of Revue Noire-produced videos and a collection of the publishing home’s books readily available for browsing), the deal with show are exposed to interpretation.” We’re not historians, and we refuse to impose our viewpoint on African art […] because, in truth, history of art is history of western art,”says Pivin. This principle remains in keeping with Andrianomearisoa’s vision for Hakanto as a springboard:”It is not, and will never be, a museum or a gallery,”he explains.”It’s an artists’area. “For the innovative director, who has his own artistic practice(consisting of taking Madagascar to its first ever Venice Biennale in 2019), The Spirit of Revue Noire: A Founding Collection– regardless of being a
historic survey– is future-oriented.”For me it’s a motivation and I hope it will likewise be a motivation for other artists, “Andrianomearisoa says.Hosting such an international show in Madagascar, however, is not only about sparking local imagination– it’s likewise about demonstrating what is possible in the nation, and growing its existence on the international art scene.” I think in Madagascar, we can do things– anything is possible here. We do it obviously for the Madagascan audience, but it’s likewise Madagascar speaking with the world.” The Spirit of Revue Noire
: An Establishing Collection, runs until 31 March 2023, Hakanto Contemporary, Antananarivo, Madagascar, Hakantocontemporary.org