15/03/2024

'Acts of Creation' Exhibition at Arnolfini, Bristol - March 2024

 



#art and #womanhood / #motherhood at @arnolfiniarts #Arnolfini #Exhibition curated by #HettieJudah / #bristol


Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood

09 March - 26 May 2024, 11:00 - 18:00
Free entry, donations always welcome and much appreciated.



Launching in March 2024 at Arnolfini, Hayward Gallery Touring’s major group exhibition Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood will plunge into the joys and heartaches, mess, myths and mishaps of motherhood through over 100 artworks, from the feminist avant-garde to the present day.

While the Madonna and Child is one of the great subjects of European art, we rarely see art about motherhood as a lived experience, in all its complexity. Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood will address this blind spot in art history, asserting the artist mother as an important – if rarely visible – cultural figure.

Featuring the work of more than sixty modern and contemporary artists, this exhibition will approach motherhood as a creative enterprise, albeit one at times tempered by ambivalence, exhaustion or grief. Acts of Creation will explore lived experience of motherhood, offering a complex account that engages with contemporary concerns about gender, caregiving and reproductive rights.

The exhibition will address diverse experiences of motherhood across three themes: Creation, which looks at conception, pregnancy, birth and nursing; Maintenance which explores motherhood and caregiving in the day-to-day; and Loss, which touches on miscarriage and involuntary childlessness, as well as reproductive rights. The heart of the exhibition is a series of revelatory self-portraits – a celebration of the artist as mother. 

Featuring painting, photography, sculpture, sound and film, artists in the exhibition include: Felicity Allen; Janine Antoni; Cassie Arnold; Bobby Baker; Elina Brotherus; Liesel Burisch; Cathy Cade; Lea Cetera; Jai Chuhan; Eileen Cooper; Renee Cox; Dorothy Cross; Rineke Dijkstra; Natalie Djurberg and Hans Berg; Leni Dothan; Marlene Dumas; Catherine Elwes; Tracey Emin; Jessa Fairbrother; Feministo; Fenix; Maeve Gilmore; Anna Grevenitis; Camille Henrot; Susan Hiller; Ghislaine Howard; Elsa James; Chantal Joffe; Claudette Johnson; Mary Kelly; Liss LaFleur; Tala Madani; Sally Mann; MATERNAL FANTASIES; Mother Art; Wangechi Mutu; Ishbel Myerscough; Everlyn Nicodemus; Catherine Opie; Fani Parali; Celia Paul; Cathie Pilkington; Laure Prouvost; Paula Rego; Su Richardson; Sister Seven; Monica Sjöö; Annegret Soltau; Tabitha Soren; Heather Spears; Nancy Spero; Hannah Starkey; Emma Talbot; Mierle Laderman Ukeles; VALIE EXPORT; Christine Voge; Del LaGrace Volcano; Barbara Walker; Caroline Walker; Carrie Mae Weems; Nancy Willis; Hermione Wiltshire; Hermione Wiltshire and Clare Bottomley; Carmen Winant; Daphne Wright; Billie Zangewa.

Some of the artworks in Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood address important issues surrounding women’s health and wellbeing including: Nudity, childbirth, (in)fertility, miscarriage, abortion, loss, domestic abuse, adoption, sterilisation and obstetric violence.




Senegal's economic policy in focus ahead of elections • RFI English

 

How can Senegal's economy move away from its colonial past? This is at the heart of the campaign ahead of the 24 March poll. 

The opposition coalition says replacing the colonial-era CFA franc with a national currency would be the best way to tackle inequality and boost employment. 

RFI's Melissa Chemam spoke to development economist and author Ndongo Samba Sylla about this:





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More soon in my article here:

https://www.rfi.fr/en/author/melissa-chemam/




09/03/2024

Friche La Belle de Mai, Marseille honours French overseas artists

 

'Un champ d'îles'

La Friche La Belle de Mai

Marseille

Spring 2024


Insight 


Raphaël Barontini 






Morgan Fache 



Kenny Dunkan




Young people hit hard by Senegal's economic and political crises • RFI English

 

As youth attempt to flee Senegal because of economic and now political hardship, charities and educators are attempting to support them at home with training that fits their needs.

My latest report from Dakar:



07/03/2024

Senegal should be able to vote before the end of March

 

6pm update:

Senegal court confirms 24 March poll, ending weeks of uncertainty


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Senegal’s president reschedules election to 24 March


Senegal's President Macky Sall has scheduled the delayed presidential election for 24 March, the government said, after the country's top court ruled that the proposal to hold the vote after his mandate expires on 2 April was unconstitutional. 


Read my latest article on RFI's website:


Senegal sets March date for delayed presidential polls, but confusion prevails

https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20240307-senegal-sets-march-date-for-delayed-presidential-polls-but-confusion-prevails




(more soon)

06/03/2024

Haiti on the verge of collapse

 

Africa-led mission to Haiti 'urgently needed', according to the UN


UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed alarm at the "rapidly deteriorating security situation" in Haiti and called for more funding for the planned international police mission to be led by Kenya.


By: Melissa Chemam with RFI


Haiti's capital was largely shut down Monday with residents only venturing out for essentials as authorities imposed a state of emergency and a curfew after a weekend attack on a prison freed thousands of inmates.

As the latest crisis deepened, Prime Minister Ariel Henry was expected to return to the country after a trip to Kenya.

The mission – initially approved in October by the UN Security Council for one year – had envisioned Kenyan police on the offensive with their Haitian counterparts, who are outnumbered and outgunned by gang members.

The UN says the deployment of this international mission is "urgent".

Arnaud Royer is the Representative in Haiti for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), led by Volker Turk. 

No other option

Royer told RFI that Turk has been calling for any form of international support for Haiti for the past two years.

"Similar calls come from the local population too. Because there is no other option. The gang violence is now concentrated in the capital, Port-au-Prince, a city of 4 to 5 million inhabitants. It has become one of the most acutely violent situations in an urban environment in the world."

Last year 5,000 homicides were reported in Haiti,  according to a UN report published last month.

"People get killed by bullets even inside their homes in Port-au-Prince," Royer says.

"Others live in makeshift camps for displaced people. And there is zero boot on the ground, nobody to protect civilians. You can argue that the mission is too small or problematic, but it is absolutely urgent to bring it to Haiti, and to be more serious about the arms embargo." 

Five contributors, two African

The upsurge in violence over the weekend came on the heels of a visit by Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry to Kenya on Friday, to sign a "reciprocal" agreement for the mission with Kenya's leader President William Ruto.

Ruto said he and Henry had "discussed the next steps to enable the fast-tracking of the deployment", but it was not immediately clear whether the agreement would counter a Nairobi court ruling in January that branded the deployment "illegal".


"I take this opportunity to reiterate Kenya's commitment to contribute to the success of this multinational mission. We believe this is a historic duty because peace in Haiti is good for the world as a whole," Ruto said in a statement.

Ruto said last year that he was ready to provide up to 1,000 personnel, an offer welcomed by the United States and other nations that had ruled out putting their own forces on the ground.

Five countries have told the United Nations of their intent to join the Kenya-led mission: the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin and Chad.

Unpopular decision

Opposition politician Ekuru Aukot, who filed the petition against Kenyan troop deployment, told French news agency AFP on Friday that he would lodge a case "for contempt of court”.

"William Ruto does not care about the rule of law or the constitution of this country," he said. "We will question the validity of this secretive agreement," he added.

In Haiti, many citizens have described the idea of any new foreign mission as "imperialism".

Others point out that "the Kenyan police have a long history of abuse and violations," as Martin Mavenjina of the Kenya Human Rights Commission told RFI recently.

In the face of criticism, Ruto had described the Kenyan undertaking as a "mission for humanity", in step with its long record of contributing to peacekeeping missions abroad.

Haiti, one of the world's poorest nations, has been in turmoil for years, and the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise plunged the country further into chaos.

No elections have taken place since 2016 and the presidency remains vacant.

Protesters have demanded Henry's resignation in line with a political deal that required Haiti to hold polls and for him to cede power to newly elected officials by February of this year.



01/03/2024

Saint Levant - 'Deira' - ft. MC Abdul

 

Thanks Lilia, for posting this. 

Such a fan of MC Abdul already. A great featuring, a powerful song




“Deira” written and performed by Saint Levant & Khalil Cherradi Guitar by Hakim Rouidi; violin by Moez Bouali; keys by Buddy Caderni; percussion by Mehdi Ryan; backing vocals by Zeyne



New post on my Substack Newsletter

 

Resisting through arts and writing, the women's way


While the world is crumbling, I want to focus for a few minutes on creativity, womanhood and resistance, as we're about the celebrate International Women's Day.

1 March 2024


Dear readers,


If you follow me on social media, you may have noticed that I have been in Senegal since 23 February, for the first time in ten years.


Before I dedicate a post to the deep issues I explored, a follow-up on my last post, between Paris, Bristol and London, pursuing a thread with wonderful creative people offering answers and insight while conflicts take my attention way to much.


We’re now in March, and for years 8 March has been an important date for me, known as International Women’s Day, for many reasons…

Here are some recommendations and highlights.





> Read from here: https://melissa.substack.com/p/resisting-through-arts-and-writing





500 Years of Black British Music

 


Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music

26 April–26 August 2024 

British Library

Journey through an ever-evolving and ever-expanding history of Black music in the UK with our latest major exhibition, the first of its kind anywhere in the world.




For centuries, Black communities have created music in the UK, melding global influences into a Black British sound that has echoed through generations.

Beyond the Bassline at the British Library, the first major exhibition of its kind anywhere in the world, is about more than music. It’s about the places where these sounds were born: the clubs, the carnivals, the stages, the kerbside auditoriums. It is the voice of community, resistance, culture and joy. 

It is a celebration of the trailblazers and innovators that brought new music to the UK, and the layered Black experiences that have birthed a thriving musical culture and history.

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more soon



28/02/2024

Senegal's election crisis • RFI English

 

In Senegal, the dates of 2 June emerged again for the presidential election from the second day of the national dialogue, ended on Tuesday night. 

These were held as part of talks initiated by President Macky Sall but largely boycotted by the opposition.






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