with Africa
Elegant Portraits by Ayana V. Jackson Are Inspired by African Diasporic Mythology
"The Rupture Was the Story" (2019), all images © Ayana V. Jackson, courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim Gallery
In a new photographic series artist Ayana V. Jackson explores the colonial gaze and historical portraiture traditions. Figures, all played by Jackson herself, appear in classical poses, draped in fishing nets, glittering flip-flops, and elegant Western gowns of years past. Each figure is inspired by African and African Disaporic water spirits including Olokun, Mame Coumba bang, Kianda, Drexciya, Yenanja and Mamiwata.
A statement from Mariane Ibrahim Gallery explains, "Jackson has used the archival impulse to assess the impact of the colonial gaze on the history of photography and its relationship to ideas about the body. She uses her lens to deconstruct 19th and early 20th century portraiture as a means for questioning photography's role in constructing identities."
The artist, who is based between New York, Hong Kong, and Johannesburg, also had a solo show this year at David Klein Gallery in Detroit. Her work has been collected by the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Detroit Institute of Art, Museum of African Contemporary Art Al-Maaden in Marrakesh, and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, among others. Jackson was the 2018 recipient of the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship.
This body of work is on view from September 20 – October 26, 2019 in Jackson's solo show, Take Me to the Water. The exhibition is at Mariane Ibrahim Gallery, which recently relocated from Seattle to Chicago. See more of Jackson's photography on her website and Instagram. (via Artsy)
"Consider the Sky and the Sea" (2019)
"Sighting in the Abyss II" (2019)
"Sea Lion" (2019)
"Serene II" (2019)
Striking Aerial Photographs of Namibia's Arid Landscape Appear as Abstract Paintings
Australian photographer Leah Kennedy captured Namibia's colorful, dry topography on a recent aerial safari. Much of the artist's work is aerial, which satisfies her creative affinity for combining abstraction and duality in her photography. Kennedy traveled in a Cessna light aircraft, as well as in a helicopter sans doors, using a medium format camera. She shares with Colossal, "The resulting images are, at least temporarily, removed from their reality they take on different forms and in some cases appear to be of microscopic origins or reminiscent of something else entirely. This ambiguity and departure from reality is what intrigues and inspires my work."
In addition to her fine art portfolio, Kennedy teaches workshops and offers tutorials on photography and Photoshop. You can see more of her site-specific series and purchase prints of select photographs on Kennedy's website, and follow her work and travels on Instagram.
Nigerian Hair Culture Documented in Rainbow-Hued Portraits by Medina Dugger
Purple Kinky Calabar. All photographs © Medina Dugger
Lagos-based photographer Medina Dugger documents colorful hair culture in the coastal Nigerian city with her ongoing series Chroma. The collection of portraits pays homage to J.D. 'Okhai Ojeikere, a renowned African photographer who documented women's hairstyles in Nigeria for over 50 years, starting in the mid-20th century.
Prior to decolinization, Dugger explains, wigs and straightening had replaced much of the indigenous hair culture, and 'Okhai Ojeikere's documentations sought to celebrate traditional hairdos. She continues, "African hair braiding methods date back thousands of years and Nigerian hair culture is a rich and often extensive process which begins in childhood. The methods and variations have been influenced by social/cultural patterns, historical events and globalization. Hairdos range from being purely decorative to conveying deeper, more symbolic understandings, revealing social status, age and tribal/family traditions."
While 'Okhai Ojeikere' images were in black and white, Dugger updates the documentary style with brightly colored backgrounds, a diverse array of vibrant contemporary fashion, and rainbow hues integrated into the hairstyles with thread, beads, and dyed extensions. You can see more of Dugger's colorful editorial photography on her website and Instagram.
Blue Coiling Penny Penny
Blue Beri Beri
Left: Purple Irun Kiko / Right: Pink Buns
Yellow Tip Twist
Emerald Abebe
Aqua Suku
Left: Violet Irun Kiko / Right: Yellow Monocle
Pink Didi with Cowry Shell
Blue Star Koroba
Calabar Bun Trio
A Five-Part Stop Motion Anthology Tests the Limits of Short Film
This Magnificent Cake! is a new stop motion animation by Belgium-based filmmaker pair Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels (previously) which tests the physical limits of short film. The 44-minute, 5-chapter anthology is just over the cut for what can be considered a short film, yet is far more condensed then one that is a traditional longer format. Described as a "mid-length film," the work follows five different characters through colonial Africa in the late 19th-century which include a "troubled king, a middle-aged Pygmy working in a luxury hotel, a failed businessman on an expedition, a lost porter, and a young army deserter."
The film premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival and will be screened at the upcoming Animafest Zagreb 2018, Annecy Festival 2018, and Anima Mundi Brazil 2018. You can see the trailer for the animation above, and more short films by de Swaef and Roels on Vimeo. (via Short of the Week)
Swirling Star Trails Captured Over the Namib Desert by Daniel Kordan
Russian photographer Daniel Kordan is a master of photographing the cosmos. In 2016 we covered his journey to the Salar de Uyuni, where he captured millions of brilliantly hued stars reflected in the world's largest salt flat. Recently, Kordan returned from a trip to Namibia where he mapped swirling trails of stars above the Deadvlei, a white clay pan speckled with the 900-year-old tree skeletons, and other sites across the Namib desert.
The images feature vortexes of multi-colored stars streaked across the sky like post-impressionist paintings. The Milky Way's warm and cool tones intermix to create a kaleidoscopic vision of the sky above, and illuminate the barren desert landscape below. To capture such images yourself, Kordan suggests creating a time-lapse with a wide angle lens, and utilizing an app like PhotoPills which allows you to easily predict the position of the stars.
You can see more of Kordan's exploration through Namibia in the images below, and view his photographs from other locations across the globe on his website and Instagram.
Abstract Aerial Photographs of South Africa by Zack Seckler
Photographer Zack Seckler's latest series took him 2,000 miles through South Africa, each piece shot from the passenger seat of a two-seater sport plane. The works feature animal tracks and shadows as compositional elements, capturing herds of flamingos, gemsbok, and even a solo turtle resting in the dazzling blue water.
"From elevations between 50 and 500 feet, the landscape hovers on the line between things looking very real and recognizable and being more abstract," said Seckler. "That's what really draws me in—the line between reality and abstraction."
Seckler's aerial photographs will be exhibited in a solo show of his work titled Zack Seckler: South Africa at ClampArt in New York City opening April 13. You can see more of his work (including this series of horse portraits) on his Instagram and Facebook, and a behind-the-scenes video of the week-long journey below. (via Colossal Submissions)
Intimate Embroidered Portraits by Danielle Clough
Cape Town-based artist Danielle Clough (previously here and here) embroiders portraits of friends and loved ones, adapting black and white images of subjects into multi-colored works. By working from black and white images the resulting works are not tied to the colors present in the original images, creating vibrant pieces that feature bright oranges, purples, and blues.
The portraits featured here were produced by Clough for the upcoming book Queer Africa II, a collection of new stories about love on the continent of Africa. The editors, Makhosazana Xaba and Karen Martin, were drawn to Clough's work for the publication because of the conceptual linkage of her layered yarn to the personal narratives told in the book, which Zaba explained "adds meaning and speaks to the zigzagging nature of our lives."
Queer Africa II will be published next month through MaThoko's Books and be available online through both Amazon and African Books Collective. You can see more portraits by Clough on her Instagram, and take a look into the artist's process on her blog.
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Star Orb Model Kit by Thomas Houha Designs