The radical beauty of Africa, in portraits | Iké Udé
Throughout his colorful career and bodies of work, Iké Udé has found creative ways to reject the negative portrayal of Africans rampant in Western media. In this ...
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In 1996, I was commissioned by the Guggenheim Museum to execute a large body of work called "Uses of Evidence." It was a cube -- a very well large cube, at that. Each side had a window in order for the spectators to view the interior of the structure. The exterior of the structure was a collage of Africa and Africans as portrayed in the Western media and literature. A look through the windows revealed a sharp contrast: within the cubes are tranquil, civilized, domestic images of African family members, friends and Nigerian professionals, ranging from writers, poets, fashion designers, etc. The thing is, both the exterior and the interior images are quite true. But the images captured by Western media overwhelmingly depict Africans as basically primitive at best, or...
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In 1996, I was commissioned by the Guggenheim Museum to execute a large body of work called "Uses of Evidence." It was a cube -- a very well large cube, at that. Each side had a window in order for the spectators to view the interior of the structure. The exterior of the structure was a collage of Africa and Africans as portrayed in the Western media and literature. A look through the windows revealed a sharp contrast: within the cubes are tranquil, civilized, domestic images of African family members, friends and Nigerian professionals, ranging from writers, poets, fashion designers, etc. The thing is, both the exterior and the interior images are quite true. But the images captured by Western media overwhelmingly depict Africans as basically primitive at best, or...
