Panel Presentations

Mario Pissarra, 23 August 2010  

Historically, exhibitions have constituted a dominant mode for displaying art. However, for documentary photographers, exhibitions have constituted only one of several sites to place their work, along with publication in the mass media and, very importantly, the publication of books.

Mario Pissarra, 11 January 2010  
 
These are some of the risks involved in establishing projects such as Africa.Cont. The stakes are high, not only for those involved in establishing the project, but also for displaced Africans in Portugal, and not least for those on the African continent who lack the economic resources to realise their own dreams.

Mario Pissarra, 25 November 2009 

To understand South African art you must first know something of Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism, etc. ... Standing in stark contrast to this is the revisionist art historical writing that has dominated since the late 1980s, seen in books such as Steven Sacks Neglected Tradition, Gavin Younge’s Art of the South African Townships, Sue Williamson’s Resistance Art in South Africa. These books signaled a shift towards defining South African art as uniquely South African, and significantly black.

Mario Pissarra, 14 May 2006  

Firstly it is important to recognise that Picasso set an important precedent for the right of the artist to engage with cultures outside of the narrow confines of one’s own. He was not the first to do this, but a very dramatic and visible example. We can debate for ever whether he stole more than he gave, and for people whose primary project is Picasso, this may well still be a relevant discourse. However there is a more important question, from an African perspective, indeed from anywhere that is excluded from what in broad terms is commonly referred to as the West.

Randolph Hartzenberg, 26 March 2006  

A plague wind has been sweeping across Africa, blowing across stagnant pools of absurdity, deception and attrition. The wind tears into the new millennium. Attempts at reconciliation are cast adrift. It is with disbelief, though not unexpected, that one encounters South Africans, who having chosen the supremacist path of the pre-1994 era, and having swallowed the “race” classification pill then, are now still slaves to that deception.

Mario Pissarra, 18 February 2006

While there may well be different interpretations of what constitutes “Africa”, “African artist” and “African art” there can surely be little doubt that there needs to be greater networking between artists (and associated professionals) on the African continent.