A Black History of Art Presents: A Shared Gaze

Alayo Akinkugbe
A Black History of Art Presents: A Shared Gaze

Conversations with Black contemporary artists from across the globe hosted by Alayo Akinkugbe, the creator of the instagram platform A Black History of Art.

  1. 11/10/2024

    Tabita Rezaire

    A conversation with Paris-born artist Tabita Rezaire. Rezaire is a new media artist, doula and cacao farmer based in French Guiana. On the occasion of her solo exhibition, Calabash Nebula at Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Rezaire has created an immersive series of installations, which are inspired by and honour the Yoruba water spirit Yemoja. Yemoja is the main water spirit of the West African Yoruba religion, who is considered the mother of rivers and oceans and the mother of all...

    28 min

  2. 10/20/2024

    Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum

    A conversation with Botswana-born artist Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum. Sunstrum’s practice spans painting, drawing, and installation and is characterized by detailed narrative world-building, and figures who resemble the artist herself but are not self-portraits. On the occasion of her commission for The Curve at London’s Barbican, Pamela has created an installation titled 'It Will End in Tears', which consists of a series of interconnected film sets, inspired by mid-century colonial settings lik...

    28 min

  3. 09/29/2024

    "Black Figuration" Today | Live Panel Discussion

    This episode is a live recording of a panel discussion which interrogated the position of so-called “Black Figuration” – in other words, work by Black artists which portrays Black figures – today. Alayo Akinkugbe is joined by writer John Baptiste Oduor, artist Anya Paintsil and curator, educator, writer and director of La Foundation for the Arts (LAFA), Chantel Akworkor Thompson. The discussion was held at Opera gallery in June 2024, in connection with an exhibition Alayo curated there, calle...

    36 min

  4. 07/28/2024

    Kenturah Davis

    A conversation with Kenturah Davis, an American artist who splits her time between California and Accra, Ghana. Kenturah’s work explores an interplay of portraiture and design and spans drawing, textile, sculpture, and performance. On the occasion of her exhibition ‘clouds’ at Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, Kenturah speaks to me about her exploration of shadows and metaphysics, her desire to create works of art that encompass the viewer the way that music encompasses a listener, and s...

    25 min

  5. 06/16/2024

    Ibrahim Mahama

    A conversation with Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama whose installations address themes of labour, circulation of goods and globalisation, and whose practice is charactarised by the use of materials collected from urban environments, which he manipulates and transforms in collaboration with communities in Ghana. On the occasion of his permanent site-specific installation at Palazzo Diedo in Venice Three Little Birds, and his exhibition If These Are The Things at APALAZZOGALLERY in Brescia...

    25 min
  6. John Akomfrah

    05/05/2024

    John Akomfrah

    A conversation with pioneering Ghanaian-born British artist, John Akomfrah on the occasion of his commission for the British Pavilion, at the 60th Venice Biennale. Akomfrah discusses early childhood memories in both Ghana and the UK, his love of filmmaking as a medium, and his experience with national representation at the Venice Biennale, having been part of the Ghanaian pavilion in 2015, and now being the sole artist to represent Britain in 2024. This episode also features a conversation wi...

    22 min

  7. 03/31/2024

    Woody De Othello

    A conversation with artist Woody de Othello, whose practice spans sculpture, painting and drawing. Woody’s first UK solo exhibition, 'Faith Like a Rock ' is on until the 13th of April 2024 at Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. Woody recreates everyday, inanimate objects and transforms them into humanoid characters which elicit different emotions. The exhibition unfolds as an immersive mise-en-scène, with ceramic sculptures, paintings and drawings inhabiting each room. In this conversation, Woo...

    23 min

  8. 03/10/2024

    Gideon Appah

    A conversation with Gideon Appah, a Ghanaian artist who draws on childhood memories, mythology and west African landscapes. This conversation was recorded on the 24th of March 2023. Our discussion centres on specific paintings in his first UK solo exhibition with Pace gallery, London in 2023 titled How to Say Sorry in a Thousand Lights. In this conversation, Gideon speaks to Alayo about his childhood and studies in Accra, the influences he takes from West African cinema and music videos,...

    20 min
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Ratings & Reviews

3.6
out of 5
5 Ratings

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Conversations with Black contemporary artists from across the globe hosted by Alayo Akinkugbe, the creator of the instagram platform A Black History of Art.

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