AlterNativeArt

Meeting room- Presentation time! Graffiti round the city Akinbode Akinbiyi, Friedrick Ploch and Jamika Ajalon Workshop Athi-Patra Ruga and one of our translators Gomis Mamadou and Hubert Mahela All work and no play Myself and Zohra Opoku

Five days into the Pret-a-Partager workshop and I am overwhelmed! I consider myself to be more of an Art Writer/ Commentator through my blog and a Project Co-ordinator through my paying job, so to be labelled a Theoretician as I have been here has got me stuck in the mud. I have no problems with theories, but the work and the way I like to promote art is more in the area of participation. Participation for me covers accessibility and in particular taking art away from the philosophers and opening it up to the people. For me Theorising can and usually stands as a summbling block as people struggle to grasp concepts. Reading through previous posts and articles I have written, one thing I can definetly say about my style of writting is that it is tres relaxed. I'm more likely to say 'so and so shows this through bla bla bla' than 'so and so reflects this by means of bla bla bla'. I will definetely have to watch my language. I suppose in referencing the work I am doing ...

I've been here barely two day but I have had the opportunity to socialise with artists from the field of fashion, photography, installation and film (to name a few). The project I am here to do is a Fashion and Art workshop, which will take place over the next 7 days. My first task here was to deliver a presentation on African Fashion, which I almost fell off my seat at hearing. After much deliberation I decided it was too broad a topic and narrowed it down to my area of interest 'Body Image Satisfaction' and 'Identity', I used myself as a case study cause I'm just that vain, lol. Actually it relates a lot to the issues I faced when moving Nigeria, where my challenge was retaining who I was, while in Lagos, something I had struggled to do on previous occassions. If you know anything about Nigeria you will know that fashion is a very important part of almost every womans life, its not a hobby but a life style. The obsession with brand and elitism are more rife t...

Im on my way to Dakar to participate in a workshop around Fashion and Art. Looking at the delegate list last night I had more than a slight complex! I am however looking forward to gaining insite into their work and networking with artists and fashion designers based on the continent so I cant really complain! Plus Darkar I am told is such a beautiful city, I look forward to blogging from there. Here is a list of some interesting Nigerian designers/ artists working with cloth. Deola Sagoe: http://www.deolasagoedesign.com/ Sokari Douglas Camp: http://www.sokari.co.uk/ (SEE ASOEBI) Yinka Shonibare: www.yinka-shonibare.co.uk/