Updates, two times...

Several new articles came online this week. Click the link "Three Artists, Two Exhibitions" to read them.

I'm still trying to complete a couple more articles before I head north for Christmas. I wonder if I contact Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, OH this year before I leave town whether somebody will acknowledge me. I gave them some press last year and they weren't even courteous enough to return any of my multiple long distance phone calls to obtain support material.

[Update #2: I made contact with Contemporary Arts Center and they will be expecting me during the next week or so. This should be a really interesting exhibition that is travelling. I mentioned it a good while back on my personal website as Fela was somebody I focused some attention on:

Black President: The Art and Legacy of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti is a critical multimedia exhibition that explores the influence and artistic legacy of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the legendary Nigerian Afrobeat musician and activist who died of AIDS-related illness in 1997. This exhibition features a diverse range of artists, from painters to rappers, whose personal investigations speak to the world in which Fela lived and to the many sides of his personality including political dissident, nativist spiritualist, unabashed sex symbol, husband to 28 women, utopian visionary, and musical pioneer. Representing a broad range of ages, and artistic and cultural backgrounds, many of these artists are presenting work in a U.S. museum for the first time. The artists do not all agree about Fela's legacy, philosophies, or actions, but they all have been influenced by his life and their work reflects, directly or indirectly, the many issues surrounding it.

In May 2003, the CAC moved into the new facility designed by architect Zaha Hadid to design its new building on a bustling corner site in the heart of downtown Cincinnati. The new building is really a great space to exhibit contemporary work.

Fela Ransome-Kuti changed his name to Anikulapo-Kuti. African naming traditions usually hold that we gather names throughout life that we become known by. Fela's grandparents were 'ransomed' by the British during the African Slave Trade and taken to Sierra Leone. After returning to Nigeria, they took the name Ransome-Kuti (Kuti=stone) and were widely known as Christian missionaries. Fela was very much interested in the power of the ancient religion(s) and spiritual beliefs. Hence, after his education in the US, he returned to Nigeria and took on the name, Anikulapo-Kuti. Anikulapo=we have death in our pockets or pouch. Priests carry pouches with medicines and such in them, hence that appellation. This is very much what my art is about, although it is rarely shown. (I am currently working on completing a new series dealing with some of the above noted issues: ethnobotanicals, W. African spirituality, & Black Atlantic diasporaic culture.)