ALL I WANT(ED) FOR CHRISTMAS

Hey guys! Eme here. Also,

Merry Christmas!!!

There are a million and one reasons why Christmas remains undisputed in terms of popular holidays. As Andy Williams oh so eloquently exemplified, it truly is the “most wonderful time of the year”. Aside from notions of togetherness, thankfulness and a general strong standing representation of the Christian faith, Christmas is also notable for getting A LOT of presents.

DISCOVER LONDON GALLERIES THIS CHRISTMAS (ft Lucid Lemons)

Tate Modern, 2016

Hey, guys! Steph here. A few weeks ago I met up with Dami Ayo-Vaughan, a writer for Lucid Lemons, to delve into London's art culture. We visited two of my favourite galleries in London; The Photographer's Gallery and Tate Modern. If you read my post a few weeks ago introducing my new feminist series, you'll remember that I mentioned an exhibition on at The Photographer's Gallery, so I'll talk about the exhibition in a bit more detail. While the Tate Modern is just one of the many Holy Grails for all forms of art in London. At the end of this post, there'll be a link to Dami's P.O.V. of the galleries and exhibitions.

EZRA POUND’S IMAGISM, LE MOT JUSTE, AND THE VIRTUES OF PEDANTRY

An article by Abayomi Folaranmi.

 "A line will take us hours maybe;

Yet if it does not seem a moment's thought,

Our stitching and unstitching has been naught."

-W.B YEATS

The short-lived Imagist movement was one the most influential of the 20th century. Spearheaded complicated iconoclast and literary talent hunter, Ezra Pound (who I daresay is one the greatest literary figures of the last century), the movement set out its principles as such:

• Direct treatment of the "thing" whether subjective or objective.
• To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation.
• As regarding rhythm: to compose in the sequence of the musical phrase, not in sequence of a metronome.

These rules were first outlined by Pound and two other founding Imagists, H.D. (as was Hilda Doolittle’s pseudonym) and Richard Adlington in 1912.  The manifesto of the original group is set out in more detail and clarity by Pound in his essays ‘Retrospect’ and ‘A Few Don’ts’ than I can hope to achieve in this article; they are worth looking into. (I say ‘original group’ in the previous sentence because of what Pound considered the corruption of the movement by American poet Amy Lowell. This he called ‘amygism’, and after failing to persuade Lowell to drop the title ‘Imagist’, he renounced the movement altogether.)

Julia Ryng: Not a Perfectionist

Hello Lovelies Eme here!

Back at it again with someone you need to GTK. Meet Julia Ryng! (who fyi was the girl who I painted in the Alexa Meade tribute ). Read about my interview with Julia and have a look at some of her gorgeous doodles. Enjoy xxx

Eme: So Julia...

Julia: First of all, It's Jay.

E: So Jay...

J: Thankyou.

E: Tell me a little bit about yourself, some background if you will.

J: So basically, I was raised by a single mother and then during my childhood she died via hunter so basically I was the story in...what's that movie with the deer?

E: Bambi?

J: Yeah.

The Fourth Wave: A Feminist Series (Pt. 1)

Barbara Kruger, Untitled (We Don’t Need Another Hero), 1987.

Hello all, Steph here. This is a new series I'm starting that basically shows appreciation for some of my favourite feminist artists throughout history. Aside from my own personal experiences with gender discrimination, a big part of what influenced my feminism are artists I stumbled upon at galleries, learnt about in school or just came across through personal research.

I think it's also relevant for me to explain the title of this series as it has some historical context which  as it should, informs the series itself. "The Fourth Wave" refers to the hypothetical fourth-wave in the feminist movement. There have been 3 waves so far, the first occurring in the late 19th century and early 20th century. It was focused on allowing women the right to vote alongside other legal issues. The second (which I would say is the OG wave and really pioneered and opened up many avenues and leeways for feminism) was focused on key issues like giving women the right to decide on abortion, gender roles, patriarchy, sexuality and domestic violence. The second-wave was a lot more blatant and explicit taking place between the 60s and the 80s and coinciding with the "Swinging 60s" that heralded a non-conformist movement in terms of drugs, sexuality and social constructions in general, making it the perfect time for in-your-face feminism. Finally, the third wave, which started in the 90's and is still going on has taken everything from the second wave and added unequal wage distribution and a focus on women from BAME (Black Asian Minority Ethnic) groups and their struggle with both race and gender. It's also paid attention to the LGBTQ community and their battle within this white, cis, supremacist, patriarchal world we live in. So my title "the fourth wave" is majorly just a play on the sequence of the waves and an attempt to encompass all the waves into one term. 

GIFT SHOP HACK FOR THE BROKE ART LOVER

Every gallery visit without fail, I spend about an hour and a half in the gift shop deciding whether or not I really need a giant rubber band ball or a dish towel with Frida Khalo's face on it. Ngl It really does get awkward - especially when you've been in the only one at the store for ages and the cashier is looking like you like when the hell are you going to buy something. Upon self reflection and snide commentary -courtesy of friends who have had the opportunity to accompany me to gift shops- I have learned that I truly truly am an indecisive person.

After about an hour in the store, the window for just "browsing" has pretty much deteriorated and it occurs to me that I actually have to buy something now otherwise I will look like a total crazy person. Drumroll & enter postcards. Honestly postcards are gift from the art lords. I make it a point to get at least 3 from every gallery I visit. It's great because my bank statement suggests I can't really afford to buy original art right now and so post cards are really the  only best option financially. 

I usually stick them all over the walls of my dorm room  for inspiration (bye bye deposit) and now some of my friends actually go out of their way to get me some whenever they get the chance! I thought I would show you guys a few of my favourites from my growing collection.

Enjoy!

Eme

 Chemistry Fume Cabinet, Thomas Struth 2010

ART = POWER

An article by Ebube Onoh

(Visual art for the visually impaired- The BLIND series) Self portrait by Roy Nachum 2009

Power. Its definition in the Webster dictionary is "the ability or right to control people or things". So presumably, it can be said that anyone who by whatever means can control or influence a person/people or things possesses power. 

When we think of beings with power, we think of glorious beings, be it those spoken of in Greek and Norse mythologies or others that have been worshipped over the centuries or those we see in comic books and their movie adaptations. When we think of a man with power and we think of advanced strength, super speed and other abnormal biological advantages that give these beings power over others, we know these things are but figments of our imagination and that they are not real. This doesn't mean that superpowers don't exist, they do and are very much around us. 

DECIEVE THE EYE

First of I'd like to give a big shoutout to my girl J for being a sport & letting me paint her. Pretty sure she was questioning her friendship with me half way through lol. (J If you're reading this love me please).

Anywho, here’s a little treat for you guys! I’ve made a little video of a fun experiment I did recently. This project was largely inspired by the artist Alexa Meade. She is an artist who specializes in painting real life 3D objects/ people and creating an illusion which turns them into two dimensional expressive paintings. She actually has a youtube channel which I definitely recommend you have a look at. She describes her paintings as a reverse Trompe-L’Oeil.

"Unlike a traditional Trompe-L'oeil painting which tricks the eye into thinking a 2D canvas might be a real 3D space, I do the opposite: I take the 3D world and create the illusion that it is a 2D painting."

In this little experiment I do my take on Alexa Meade’s unique style!

-Eme

The Perfect Villain

An article by Ekanem Ukpong.

The long philosophical monologues, creepy lairs, the evil laugh…these are just some of the stereotypes that come to mind when we think of the villain in a story. From the bedtime stories read to us as children, to the many power-hungry individuals in history who committed mass atrocities, we are primed to find stories incomplete without a bad guy; someone/thing we can hate on and want to see brought to justice. Due to this, we automatically start to see any character opposing our Hero as the Villain, even though the character may not be “bad”. This is why I avoid referring to the villain as the ‘bad guy’ and instead call it by its dramatic term - The Antagonist. The antagonist is a character or force which another character struggles against. The main antagonist, therefore, is what or who our hero must overcome during the course of the journey (story). In this article, I'm going to look at the key elements that make up the perfect villain.

GTK SPECIAL : A DAY WITH DATA PEPPLE

Hi all and welcome, Steph here! In honour of our launch today I ask you to journey with me on a rainy afternoon as I dive into the world of free and vibrant Data Pepple as she shows us the inner workings of her art and her process! Watch this interview featuring the kind-hearted illustrator with big plans for her future and a fluid hand stroke.

A'NAALA

HELLO AND WELCOME TO A'NAALA! A'naala is a blog dedicated to art and lifestyle and art as a lifestyle ;) and while the literal and collated meaning of A'naala is Culture, we did a little letter by letter breakdown, firstly on our Instagram as part of the build up to today's launch, of some of what we would be offering you at A'naala featuring some gorgeous works of art!

HENRI BARANDE: THE WORK BEYOND REVIEW.

Hey guys, Steph here.

The one thing about England that makes it so distinct (apart from all the tea lovers and scone eaters) is it's refreshingly depressing weather. So on this fine gloomy day (wow so many paradoxes) I decided to relieve myself of England's thick-set heaviness and take a trip to Saatchi Gallery, one of the favs here at A'naala as you can probably guess, and honestly it was so rewarding. I was on a mission to let the art come to me rather than trying to dive into it, which I usually do so after about 10 minutes on the ground floor I was getting a bit disappointed. Nothing struck me, nothing felt like you know an epiphany. Until.... (insert dramatic pause)

MENTAL ILLNESS AND THE ARTS

Fact. About 1 in 4 adults in the world live with a mental condition. Strangely, the extent to which mental illness is spoken about in society does a very poor job at reflecting this. The recent celebration of mental health awareness month helped to reignite the conversation that surrounds mental illness.

This post serves as a medium to spread awareness regarding mental illnesses. Many suffering from mental health issues often turn to the arts as a safe haven or even an outlet to share their stories. Having the ownership of a piece of art and using it to tell the world what you’re going through can be a very empowering tool for an artist. It can often be a center stage for people who may at times feel invisible.

In honour of this important cause, A’naala would like to recognize a few renowned artists that lived with mental conditions through out their careers. Despite their illnesses, the artwork that they have produced are some of the most influential pieces in the world.

Edit: The amazing Artsy has provided us with some additional resources just in case you wanted to know a little bit more about the artists included in this post! I'll attach them just below each segment so keep a look out!

 VINCENT VAN GOGH 

Through out his career, Van Gogh was combating frequent episodes of depression as well as anxiety. In fact, one of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings, Starry night was produced during his voluntary admission into Saint-Paul-de-Mausole lunatic asylum.

Van Gogh turned to painting as a means of therapy. Despite his anguish he wrote in a letter to his brother in 1973;

“…but still there is within me a calm, pure harmony and music. In the poorest huts, in the dirtiest corner, I see drawings and pictures. And with irresistible force my mind is drawn towards these things.”

Starry Night 1889

For more on Vincent Van Gogh: https://www.artsy.net/artist/vincent-van-gogh

A WEEKEND AT SAATCHI

Hey darlings, Eme here. This weekend I went to my favourite contemporary art gallery in London- Saatchi! Honestly if you haven't been here I suggest you go. It's really a magical place and oh my goodness don't. even. get. me. started. on. the. gift. shop.

Before I go manic, I'll begin with these astonishing portraits by Jelena Bulajic, a 26 year old artist fom Serbia. She creates beautifully detailed pencil drawings- particularly of the aging human face. I think its important for you to know that these detailed drawings are massive. Like 10 feet massive. There is something so spectacular about the detail involved in the folds, the wrinkles and the spots of the aged faces she has depicted. Bulajic describes them as "time turned into shape... unique like a finger print".

Grozda, 2014

CELEBRATE BLACKNESS REVIEW

Hello All, Steph here.

So so so, as a newly enrolled student of the well-talked about University of the Arts London (UAL), I am eager to explore all the art avenues and experiences it has to offer, which must be quite a bit judging from the name of the uni ya know. Anywho, It's October! While yes we're all raving about halloween and what we're going to go dressed as (probably a sexy minion yes?) some of us are out there honouring black history month! And the student union at the university is part of this "us" and thus held a private exhibition at the gorgeous Central Saint Martin college of UAL to that cause. The exhibition showcased a small but energetic collection of work done exclusively by black students of the university, titling the exhibition "Celebrating Blackness".

At the first mention of this, I was buzzing. The uni is known to produce some of the most prominent members of the fashion and art world with an impressive alumni consisting of the likes of Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and Zac Posen. So the work was no doubt going to be top level but knowing that it was going to be specifically black-targeted I was excited to see the socio-political context of the work and sure enough there was a yummy splash of just that.

I'll briefly discuss some of the pieces and what I took away from them:

The Art of Cinema

An article by Ekanem Ukpong.

Hi guys, this is my first post for A’naala! I’m obsessed with movies so over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to delve deeper into the art of cinematic storytelling. For me, there are 3 ways to tell a story through film (or as I like to call them layers).     These are Visually, Auditory and Literary. In this article, I’ll be focusing on the first way- visually. Specifically, how to use the movement of an individual to tell a story visually.

                                               

CAROLINE ACHAINTRE

Right so I’m a bit of a London snob and it occurred to me that I never really went to see art galleries in other bits of the UK. So on a faithful day in September I had a little bit of a Eureka moment- Newcastle! It’s about 15 minutes away from my uni and there were apparently some good exhibitions running in galleries there at the moment. I honestly don’t know why it hadn’t occurred to me before.

I decided to visit the BALTIC centre for contemporary art. Originally I came to see an exhibition called “the playground project” which seemed to be quite popular. But on the visit I was pleasantly surprised by an exhibition which held these incredible textile pieces as well as other works of art by Caroline Achaintre.

GTK: DESOLA KAZEEM

Let me just give you a brief introduction to this new segment we’ve decided to launch on A’naala!

"Get To Know" is going to be a series which gives you a little introduction/ insight into the works of talented people that you may or may not have heard of.

Our first ever GTK subject is Desola Kazeem who has always been known by close friends and family as an avid doodler and an incredibly talented one at that! In this interview she talks about a handful of drawings/ paintings she’s done recently and some of the stories behind them. Enjoy! xx 

-Eme

Young, Inky and Profound: The Young Nigerian Art Scene.

2016 has agreeably been a horrible year, following the deaths of many beloved creative icons and of course the Nigerian recession, but it seems this gloomy year has also shed a bright light on the creative minds of Nigerian Youth. 2016, well for me especially, has had an explosion of creative talent amongst the young Nigerians. Ranging masterpieces from art to photography to music to film and of course poetry/spoken word, 2016 has ushered in a certain aesthetic that I have identified with its artworks throughout the year. It’s no 2010 i’ll tell you that, where cameras were simply an extension of your necklace and painting and drawing were mostly limited to art classes in school. This my friends is 2016 for the young and WOKE and for those embracing their artistic liberties.

Contentro by @O.Sammie on instagram

BARBADOS DIARIES: LEO

 LIIOOOOOON! (Dj Khaled voice). Let's be real, you were all thinking the same thing. 

I came across this lion randomly on a scavenger hunt with some friends; its a mural which had basically been done on the rocky bit of a hill. I love how it blends in with the surrounding greenery! You can find this piece on Parris Hill, St Joseph, Barbados.

BARBADOS DIARIES: COPA CABANA

Is this post just an excuse to rub it in you guys’ faces that I went to the Caribbean and had the most amazing vacation of my life? Absolutely.  Potentially. All bragging aside though, I could not go all the way to Barbados without coughing up a couple of blog posts for you guys!

At first I thought I’d just go to one of the galleries and take a couple pictures, but that seemed boring to me; and for some reason I was on some serious alternative vibes (lol).  Long story short, I just decided to wing it and go about my holiday as normal taking pictures of anything artsy that caught my eye along the way!

CAMH

So I put together a little teaser video relating to this really interesting exhibition I got a chance to see while I was in the Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston (CAMH). Since the exhibition was largely inspired by themes of contemporary media what better way to present the post than via a Youtube video? #ontrend (Feel free to subscribe if you want! There's definitely more to come on the channel).  This is probably my first time editing anything like this as well so no judgement please. Only postive vibez yeah?

All the pieces were by Mark Flood in his exhibition "Gratest Hits". I'll tell you a little bit more about the exhibition and add in any more images I may have left out just after the video! Enjoy watching! x

FACES OF THE 80'S

An article about the emergence of the " 80's " aesthetic by Stephanie Amata.

The late 20^th century was the turning point for photography. It was when photography was actually considered an art and a skill. With the breakthrough of photography came the breakthrough of new visually stimulating art that the world had never seen. Photography in the 80’s also brought about the emergence of digital photography so it was the peak for work that shocked and excited people. There are a few photographers who I think gave the 80’s its general image and look, a few to mention, the legend himself Andy Warhol; his tutee, David LaChapelle who still stuns the fashion world and the ground-breaking feminist artist Cindy Sherman.

Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928- February 22, 1987)

LIGHT WORKS

I actually happened to be walking to the post office when I randomly stumbled across the wonderful Whitechapel gallery. Funny how often I stumble upon reasons to procrastinate from things I really need to be doing...

I had heard of this gallery before but never really paid much attention to it. So the fact that I had randomly stumbled upon it was nothing short of a sign that I needed to explore.