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!