From its inception in 1991 till it closed in 2001, Revue Noire journal printed work by greater than 3,500 artists of African origin or who had been residing on the continent. With a give attention to pictures, its mission was to display that there “was artwork in Africa”, say the journal’s founders Jean Loup Pivin and Pascal Martin Saint Léon—a consideration usually neglected by many within the mainstream artwork world on the time.
The journal is the main focus of a survey at Hakanto Modern in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, inspecting its affect. Hakanto Modern is a non-profit area launched in 2020 with the artist Joël Andrianomearisoa as artisitic director.
Our intention is to indicate how Revue Noire supported (and symbolised) the emergence of various types of creative expression inside Africa
Jean Loup Pivin and Pascal Martin Saint Léon, curators
The Revue Noire exhibition, curated by Pivin and Léon, options greater than 140 photos by round 30 worldwide photographers. “Our intention is to indicate how Revue Noire supported (and symbolised) the emergence of various types of creative expression inside Africa—from the visible arts to literature, cinema to music, spanning quite a lot of aesthetics and messages,” say the curators. “We additionally need to present how the publication turned a car for spreading data and galvanizing others, illustrating the extent and variety of African creative practices in all fields.”
Mama Casset, African Studio picture, Dakar, Senegal (undated) Courtesy of the Revue Noire Assortment
Among the many highlights shall be works by the Senegalese studio photographer Mama Casset, the famend Malian photographer Malick Sidibé and Nigerian-born Rotimi Fani-Kayodé, who co-founded Autograph ABP gallery in London.
“Our major focus is to exhibit pictures in a rustic the place pictures has been a serious visible expression for a number of generations—and the place, as weird as it’s, it’s most misunderstood,” say Pivin and Léon. “Particularly, Antananarivo was a hub for photographic practices—not simply studio pictures but in addition humanist pictures, photojournalism and extra aesthetic types of pictures.”
The importance of the exhibition happening in Africa can’t be neglected, contemplating the legacy of African artwork as categorised by a Eurocentric, colonial or neo-colonial lens. “Exhibitions exploring Africa’s cultural heritage are seldom hosted on the continent itself or nations of the Indian Ocean,” say the curators. “We need to present that, everywhere in the world, there are millions of photographers who’ve every contributed to the creative panorama of Africa—and that the continent can’t all the time be decreased to a couple photographers on the idea of ‘exoticism’.”
• The Spirit of Revue Noire: a Founding Collection, Hakanto Modern, Antananarivo, till 31 March 2023
