Research & Curating
Academia
Academia
Modernist Mosaics in Sub-Saharan Africa
Research article
The medium of mosaic is wrongly considered to be absent from the Black Worlds - and by extension absent from the imaginations of those who inhabit them. However, there is indeed a presence of mosaics, especially monumental, in sub-Saharan Africa. These are images that are little known from the Continent. These architectural works are generally associated with the history of Soviet public art, social-realism, and its "internationalist" dissemination in Africa during the Suns of Independence era. Today, past cultural collaboration between the Central and Eastern Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa is becoming more visible, notably through publications and artistic, curatorial and filmographic productions.
This exploration will delve into (I) three mosaics featuring Africans found in Moscow, at the Africa Institute and in the Metropolitan, (II) Soviet-designed mosaics in Red Africa and the nuanced dynamics of Eastern bloc mentorship for local artists, (III) the intriguing presence of North Korea in artistic and mosaic collaborations on the continent, and the distinction between Communist and Liberal influences and expressions in African public mosaics. Transversally, this research stumbles upon multiple representations of African women, which are examined closely, attempting to unveil the complexity of these opaque images “fighting two colonialisms”: Exoticism and the male gaze. Additionally, it considers various iterations of Afro-Red Heroic figures then in the making, such as Prometheus and Spartacus.
This research article, started in 2022, is the first comprehensive review on the subject. It is dedicated to my great-grandmother Hélène Cuperek-Morylski (Nina Dostoïeva ?), born near Moscow in the 1910’s-early 1920’s, to my father, Hervé Thurin, for enrolling my younger brother Pierre and I in a summer mosaic workshop 10+ years ago, and to my African ancestors, deported and enslaved in the Americas.
The first draft of the article was kindly supported by Marylène Dalle in 2023.
Modernist Mosaics in Sub-Saharan Africa was presented for the first time at the workshop lron Curtains or Artistic Gates? Communism and Cultural Diplomacy in the Global South (1945-1991 and Beyond), organized by the Universität Wien at the Upper Belvedere (Vienna) in September 2024.
Presenting my research in Vienna.
Panel chair: Noit Banai (Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna)
Curating
Curating
Prends soin de toi
Exhibition in Paris & Montréal
Exhibition entitled Prends soin de toi.
Co-curator : Anaïs Auger-Mathurin.
With Zionsay Agency.