Projects tagged "Africa"

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The Green Belt Movement (GBM) was founded by Professor Wangari Maathai in 1977 under the auspices of the National Council of Women of Kenya (NCWK) to respond to the needs of rural Kenyan women who reported that their streams were drying up, their food supply was less secure, and they had to walk further and further to get firewood for fuel and fencing.

Daniel Hewson describes the use of protest posters and the work of collective, Burning Museum, and artist, Faith47, in the Fees Must Fall movement taking place in South Africa:

The term “Afrofuturism” was coined in the 1990s by the cultural critic Mark Dery, who recognized a preoccupation with the future in the work of a number of black artists. Ever since, it has remained a term that is retrospectively applied to seemingly disparate artists, from Missy Elliot to Toni Morrison. What unites the movement is a shared fascination with the black experience, particularly in America.

Kenyan-based photographer Boniface Mwangi has captured his country's political and civic turmoil since the controversial presidential election in 2007. The violence and disorder he witnesses daily motivated him to take action, setting up a creative hub for activism called PAWA 254.

On August 14th 2014 several prominent statues within the city centre and the southern suburbs of Cape Town got redressed in green blankets, equipped with miner gear or carrying grocery bags. The statues – mainly of which represent colonial figures – were redressed in light of what has come to be known as the Marikana Massacre: the shooting of 34 miners by the local police force of Marikana, South Africa on August 16th, 2012.

Thousands of people protested in Ghana’s capital Accra on Wednesday against the expansion of its defence cooperation with the United States, in a rare public display of opposition to the growing foreign military presence in West Africa. Demonstrators blowing vuvuzelas and beating drums filled Accra’s business district, holding placards criticising a new deal with Washington that they say threatens Ghana’s sovereignty.

In an endeavor to raise awareness at the local and international level, Razia organized the Mifohaza Masoala (Wake Up Masoala) music and environmental festival, which took place at the edge of the Masoala Rainforest in October 2011. The concert featured some of Madagascar’s most thrilling performers, and the festival was a tremendous success, with over 10,000 people in attendance.

UNCB UGANDA NATIONAL CONTEMPORARY BALLET presented a new powerful and moving production advocating for the child soldiers all over the world at the National Theatre in Kampala. Choreography by Valerie Miquel, Music composed by Niktus, Werner Goos, Henning Brand, Live Percussion by Samuel Nalangira, and 8 Ugandan dancers/drummers KADOGOS (60 minutes) (Name to design a child soldier in Central Africa)

Olafur Eliasson's latest project Little Sun was first debuted at the World Economic Forum on Africa in 2012. The global initiative is bringing tiny, sunburst shaped, plastic solar powered LED lights to the most marginalized regions of the world. Elliasson calls Little Sun, "A work of art that works in life."The lights are also capable of self renewable energy, which makes them practical and portable to those without proper electricity.

I am a visual activist. Most of what I have done over the years focuses on black LGBTQIA+ and gender-non-conforming individuals from South Africa and other neighbouring countries. It’s about making sure we exist in the visual archive. I call myself a visual activist — or, rather, a cultural activist, because this work is not only about the arts; I’m focusing on education, I’m dealing with culture in a way that confronts a number of issues.

In Cape Town, South Africa the design firms Design Indaba Trust and Thinking have teamed up with artist Faith47 to help raise funds to bring more light to their urban city. Their goal is to raise funds to light up 700 meters of Manwabisi Park, which will ultimately reduce the crime rate in the area through more light. In order to get the community involved in the project, they have combined street art with community engagement.