Category: Art News

5th August 2020

An Artist for the Moment

Art Hazelwood infuses his work with hard-hitting political commentary. by Paul Von Blum August 1, 2020 One of the strongest artistic responses to the uprisings following the murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd comes from San Francisco-based Art Hazelwood, whose trenchant graphic works stand out both for their topical relevance and their timelessness. All art—music, literature, film,...

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31st July 2020

If you’re trying to tell the pulse of a country, listen to its artistes By Benjamin Rukwengye

In his last book, There was a Country, Chinua Achebe, chronicles his experience of the Biafra war. Talking about the role of art in the context of a society’s needs, he says, “There is a moral obligation, I think, not to ally oneself with power against the powerless.” It is as if to say the privilege of talent comes with...

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7th April 2020

Ravi Shankar, godfather of world music, a century after his birth

One hundred years after the birth of sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, his meditative reinvention of Indian classical raga music has particular resonance during the corona crisis. The loneliness that many experience during the corona crisis is a feeling that was often shared by Indian sitar legend Ravi Shankar. “I have received so much love, but my loneliness has not disappeared,” said the musician in 1977. “Somehow I got it by inheritance, and I’m carrying it all the time in my life.” Perhaps Shankar’s lonesome spirit explains, 100 years after his birth, why his music has a special relevance in this...

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7th April 2020

Coronavirus in the Middle East: Creativity to help knows no bounds

From mounting death tolls in Italy and the US to fractured responses to the global crisis, there is no shortage of tragedy across the globe. But even in such darkness, people have a way of bringing out the best of humanity. In the Middle East, people across the region have launched personal initiatives to help their communities deal with the...

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24th March 2020

Bay Area Musical Luminaries Plan a Tribute to Hamza El Din

Hamza El Din | Credit: John Werner There were so many right reasons why the tribute to the late Nubian musician Hamza El Din, at San Francisco’s Presidio Theatre, was planned for March 21. “It’s on the weekend of World Water Day,” notes the producer of the event, Mina Girgis, who’s also the founder of the Nile Project and a fellow at UC Berkeley’s Othering and...

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16th February 2020

PRÊTE-MOI TON RÊVE: This contemporary art exhibition in Dakar tackles African migration and reframes colonization By Ciku Kimeria

MUSEE DES CIVILISATIONS NOIRES Siriki Ky’s, Têtes précieuses (Precious heads), sculpted bronze heads piled on a regal red pillow, laments how the continent has forgotten the wisdom from its griots The first work exhibit you come across at the Prête-moi ton rêve (lend me your dream) exhibition in Dakar’s Museum of Black Civilizations might be one of giant matchsticks by Senegalese artist,...