Art History Ephemeral Art and Performance in Africa
by
Aimée Bessire
  • LAST REVIEWED: 12 January 2021
  • LAST MODIFIED: 12 January 2021
  • DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199920105-0162

Introduction

Ephemeral art presents an interesting and not often covered lens in the field of African studies. It provides insight into the values placed on materials and the opportunity for deeper understanding of cultural traditions, spiritual beliefs, or individual philosophies. Ephemeral art may include transient materials intended to decay, those created in order to be destroyed, or even a piece marking a temporal instant, as in performances and site-specific installations. The ephemeral is what is seen, used, or performed until it decays, is buried, destroyed, or completes its durational moment. Performances exist as a moment in time—once past, they remain a memory. In this sense performance is ephemeral. While there is a great deal of scholarship on performance traditions, there is very little on African ephemeral art. The two topics remain distinct in the scholarly literature with overlaps in studies on the symbolism of ephemeral materials in performance traditions. The following bibliography is organized in two separate categories: ephemeral art and performance art, each connected through the trope of transiency.

Ephemeral Art: Introduction

As Allyson Purpura has noted “the ephemeral is at once a concept, a condition, a process, and an analytic framework” (Purpura 2010, 13; cited under General Overviews). Due to their short life-cycle, these arts are rarely preserved in museum collections for long-term study. The transiency of the objects is part of what makes this topic such a rich one for study. Purpura has suggested: “Ephemerality defies conventional expectations around preservation, display, and commodification of art and confounds the museum’s mission to preserve works in perpetuity” (Purpura 2009, 11; cited under General Overviews). While there have been few cross-cultural studies on ephemeral arts in Africa, with the exception of the collection of essays in the two issues of African Arts (See Purpura and Kreamer 2009 and Purpura 2010 in General Overviews), the texts in this section present many case studies on ephemeral arts in cultural context. The essays and books are organized by thematic category of ephemeral art: architecture, mural painting, altars and reliquaries, healing arts, power objects, funerary objects, body arts, material culture and everyday life, and contemporary art.

General Overviews

The texts in this section address ephemeral arts in Africa as a whole. Each article provides a sense of the importance of the fleeting nature of these arts and the significance of ephemerality in their ongoing interpretation. The texts are helpful in creating an understanding of the unique nature of the ephemeral in Africa and the ways in which some art and objects are created and left to decay, or are erased, buried, or destroyed as an important part of their function. Frank Herreman included a section in Material Differences: Art and Identity in Africa (Herreman 2003) investigating the ephemeral. This source serves as a precursor for the Arts Council of the African Studies Association conference papers and two issues of African Arts organized by Allyson Purpura and Christine Mullen Kreamer (Purpura and Kreamer 2009; Purpura and Kreamer 2010).

  • Herreman, Frank. “The Ephemeral and ‘Un-Transportable’.” In Material Differences: Art and Identity in Africa. Edited by Frank Herremann, 119–120. New York: Museum for African Art, 2003.

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    This brief essay introduces African ephemeral arts in a section on ephemerality for the Museum for African Art exhibition catalogue. It focuses on art that is created for functional purposes and includes works intended to decay after only a few uses, or be destroyed or dismantled after a ceremonial use.

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  • Hornbeck, Stephanie E. “A Conservation Conundrum: Ephemeral Art at the National Museum for African Art.” African Arts 42.3 (2009): 52–61.

    DOI: 10.1162/afar.2009.42.3.52Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This article tackles the notion of ephemeral African art from the perspective of a museum conservator. Hornbeck, a conservator at the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian, analyzes the challenges that ephemeral materials present from the museological perspective.

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  • Kreamer, Christine Mullin. “Impermanent by Design: The Ephemeral in Africa’s Tradition-Based Arts.” African Arts 43.1 (2010): 14–27.

    DOI: 10.1162/afar.2010.43.1.14Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    In her article Kreamer provides background on the ways that ephemeral materials are used to produce significance in African objects. She presents several case studies and analyzes the breadth of unstable materials that are used in the creation of meaningful objects. She concludes with an insightful analysis of the ephemerality of performance, as a moment in time.

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  • Milbourne, Karen E. Earth Matters: Land as Material and Metaphor in the Arts of Africa. Washington, DC: Smithsonian, National Museum of African Art, 2014.

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    This innovative exhibition catalogue provides a lens on African arts that use earth as material or subject matter. While not strictly about the topic of ephemeral art, the essays in the book demonstrate the wide range of arts created from ephemeral earth. Ephemeral arts are presented throughout the book; of particular interest to those studying the ephemeral are chapter 1, “The Material Earth,” chapter 2, “The Power of the Earth,” and chapter 6, “Earth Works.”

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  • Purpura, Allyson. “Framing the Ephemeral.” African Arts 42.3 (2009): 11–15.

    DOI: 10.1162/afar.2009.42.3.11Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    In this excellent essay, Purpura presents an overview of the theoretical concept of the ephemeral in African art. This is one of the best overviews of the topic to date, providing an insightful analysis of the distinctive ways that ephemerality impacts the significance of African objects.

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  • Purpura, Allyson. “On the Verge: Ephemeral Art, Part II.” African Arts 43.1 (2010): 12–13.

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    This essay serves as an introduction to the second special African Arts issue dedicated to the ephemeral. Purpura provides an effective overview of the articles in the issue, framing them through theories of ephemerality.

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  • Purpura, Allyson, and Christine Mullen Kreamer, eds. Special Issue: Ephemeral Arts I. African Arts 42.3 (2009).

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    Purpura and Kreamer edited two African Arts issues covering diverse specialized topics and providing the first focused study of the variety of ephemeral arts in Africa. The first part of the special issue includes articles on power objects in Tanzania, the symbolic significance of the ephemerality of brooms, the work of a contemporary Cameroonian artist, and issues faced by museum conservators with ephemeral objects from Africa.

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  • Purpura, Allyson, and Christine Mullen Kreamer, eds. Special Issue: Ephemeral Arts II. African Arts 43.1 (2010).

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    The second of two special African Arts issues on ephemeral art provides further insight into the topic. The articles create a greater understanding of ephemerality in Fang reliquaries, southern Kuba initiation rituals, Vodun aesthetics, and an overview of the transitive nature of some traditional African arts.

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Architecture

Texts in this section address the ephemerality of architectural materials and concepts. Some address structures that are ontologically ephemeral in nature, constructed for specific occasions and then left to decay as part of a process, as with the case of Mbari houses (Cole 2003) and Pende kibulu (Strother 2004), while others present the transiency of nomadic architecture (Prussin 1997). Kreamer 2007 analyzes the symbolism of writing systems used on architectural spaces and De Boeck and Baloji 2016 and Gurney 2015 analyze the ephemerality and ever-changing nature of urban spaces.

  • Cole, Herbert M. “Earth Renews Earth: Igbo Mbari Houses.” In Material Differences: Art and Identity in Africa. Edited by Frank Herremann, 129–131. New York: Museum for African Art, 2003.

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    In this short article, Cole addresses the ephemeral nature of mbari houses in Igbo culture, specifically the transitive, fleeting quality of the materials used for the structures and the ephemeral character of the house itself, which is constructed and left to decompose.

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  • De Boeck, Filip, and Sammy Baloji. Suturing the City: Living Together in Congo’s Urban Worlds. London: Autograph ABP, 2016.

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    An ethnographic and photographic investigation of Congo’s urban spaces, this book explores the complexities of the ways that past, present, and future come together in collective experience. The authors illustrate some of the ephemeral and transient qualities that are part of life in Congo’s cities.

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  • Gurney, Kim. The Art of Public Space: Curating and Re-Imagining the Ephemeral City. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

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    Taking the reader on a journey through three distinct Johannesburg-based art projects, entitled New Imaginaries, Gurney presents the ways that public art impacts the definitions of spaces. She presents the artists’ ephemeral interventions and a notion of the city as ephemeral, ever-changing space.

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  • Kreamer, Christine Mullen. “Circumscribing Space.” In Inscribing Meaning: Writing and Graphic Systems in African Art. Edited by Christine Mullen Kreamer, Polly Nooter Roberts, Elizabeth Harney, and Allyson Purpura, 159–175. Washington, DC: Smithsonian, National Museum of African Art, 2007.

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    In this thorough overview, Kreamer analyzes the ways in which graphic systems have impacted spaces in Africa. Exploring the themes of the body, gender and identity, and religious beliefs, the essay considers the impact of writing and graphics on architectural spaces.

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  • Prussin, Labelle, ed. African Nomadic Architecture: Space, Place and Gender. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 1997.

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    This book documents the variety of nomadic architectural styles across the African continent through essays by specialists in the field. The contributors address the daily life of nomads and the ephemeral nature of often transportable materials used to make dwellings.

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  • Strother, Zoe. “Architecture against the State: The Virtues of Impermanence in the Kibulu of Eastern Pende Chiefs in Central Africa.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 63.3 (September 2004): 272–295.

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    This article analyzes the notion of impermanence in eastern Pende architecture, specifically in the kibulu, or chief’s ritual structure.

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Mural Painting

These texts address the wide variety of mural painting traditions in Africa. While the transient nature of house mural paintings may recall symbolism of the cycle of life in Basotho culture, as Gary van Wyk has posited (van Wyk 1998), it may also convey a visual vocabulary linked to shared cultural traditions as in the case of Igbo murals (Itanyi 2013), present contemporary social, political, or religious expressions in Egypt (Saber 2014, Gröndahl 2012), political messages in northern Côte d’Ivoire (Förster 2013), or the complexities of translations from physical painted forms to cultural reproductions as Internet images (Collier 2016). Courtney-Clark presents an overview of mural painting by women (Courtney-Clarke 1990).

  • Collier, Delinda. Repainting the Walls of Lunda: Information, Colonialism and Angolan Art. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2016.

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    This book presents and analyzes Chokwe wall murals and sand. Collier traces the original ephemeral forms from the physical walls of dwellings and drawings in sand to their layers of reproduction in post-independence Angola through the media and Internet.

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  • Courtney-Clarke, Margaret. African Canvas: The Art of West African Women. New York: Rizzoli, 1990.

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    Courtney-Clarke documents women’s mural painting from Nigeria to Senegal. Many of the paintings are created with natural pigments and earth, which may disappear in the rains.

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  • Förster, Till. “Painted Visions Under Rebel Domination: A Cultural Center and Political Imagination in Northern Côte d’Ivoire.” In Companion to Modern Art in Africa. Edited by Gitti Salami and Monica Blackmun Visona, 528–547. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.

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    Förster presents an analysis of the political messages of mural paintings in northern Côte d’Ivoire.

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  • Gröndahl, Mia. Revolution Graffiti: Street Art of the New Egypt. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2012.

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    Gröndahl provides a photographic document of graffiti in Egypt responding to the revolution.

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  • Itanyi, E. I. Ikenga. “Archaeology and Traditional Mural Painting in Nsukka Area of Northern Igboland.” International Journal of Institute of African Studies 15 (2013): 255–266.

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    This study presents a focus on the ways that Igbo culture is expressed through the visual vocabulary of architectural mural paintings using such ephemeral substances as indigo, clay, red ochre, charcoal, and natural plant dyes.

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  • Saber, Rasha. Untouched: Egypt’s Revolution in Graffiti. Pau, France: Delizon, 2014.

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    This photographic book presents a visual document of graffiti in Egypt expressing social, political, and religious messages after the revolution.

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  • van Wyk, Gary. African Painted Houses: Basotho Dwellings of Southern Africa. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1998.

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    This visually exciting book presents the ephemeral mural paintings of Basotho women in South Africa. van Wyk investigates the social and historical context of the mural paintings and their symbolism as part of the cycle of life, where rain washes them away and they are renewed through new painting the next year.

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Altars and Reliquaries

The articles in this section address the conceptual and physical power of the ephemeral in the context of spiritual expression in such spaces as altars and in reliquaries. Thompson 1993 addresses a variety of altars in Africa and the diaspora; Drewal 1996 focuses on ephemera in Mami Wata shrines; and Martinez 2010 presents a study of Fang reliquaries.

  • Drewal, Henry John. “Mami Wata Shrines: Exotica and the Construction of Self.” In African Material Culture. Edited by Mary Jo Arnoldi and Christraud M. Geary, 308–333. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.

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    In this interesting analysis Drewal considers the incorporation of ephemera from foreign cultures in the expression of identity through Mami Wata shrine constructions.

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  • Martinez, Jessica Levin. “Ephemeral Fang Reliquaries: A Post-History.” African Arts 43.1 (2010): 28–43.

    DOI: 10.1162/afar.2010.43.1.28Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    This analysis investigates Fang reliquaries in relation to a trope of absence. After the figures were sold, confiscated, destroyed, or discarded, they gained new life in popular imagination. Martinez illustrates the ways that the absence of the figures in cultural context evoked mythologies relating to social, political, and economic power.

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  • Thompson, Robert Farris. Face of the Gods: Art and Altars of Africa and the African Americas. New York: The Museum for African Art and Prestel, 1993.

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    Thompson presents a theoretical analysis of the art and altars of Africa and the African diaspora in the Americas with specific attention to those relating to Kongo and Yoruba cultures. Through its visual and cultural material, the book provides insight into the transitive, ephemeral nature of altars.

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Healing Arts

Art and material culture used for healing purposes include a variety of ephemeral materials, as presented in Anderson and Kreamer 1989. Many healing objects are also intended to gently decay. Ephemeral arts relating to healing traditions provide information about the values placed on materials and the alternating power of decay, presence, and absence in spiritual belief systems. Rush 2010 analyzes the importance of process in creating Vodun objects and Janzen 1992 presents healing traditions associated with drumming and spirit possession.

  • Anderson, Martha G., and Christine Mullen Kreamer. Wild Spirits, Strong Medicine: African Art and the Wilderness. New York: Center for African Art, 1989.

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    This exhibition catalogue presents a focused study of arts associated with the wilderness. The various examples used in the book provide insight into the ways that African art and visual culture are inspired by forces of nature. While the book does not directly address ephemeral arts, it includes background on the use of ephemeral materials.

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  • Janzen, John M. Ngoma: Discourses of Healing in Central and Southern Africa. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.

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    This book presents healing traditions through drumming and spirit possession. Both performative aspects present transitory, ephemeral moments in the healing process.

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  • Rush, Dana. “Ephemerality and the ‘Unfinished’ in Vodun Aesthetics.” African Arts 43.1 (2010): 60–75.

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    Rush uses case studies to present an interesting argument about the tension between ephemerality and the notion of unfinished in Vodun aesthetics. Her argument demonstrates the importance of process in the final product.

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Power Objects

Power objects in African cultures are defined as containers of different material ingredients and activating substances. The articles in this section discuss the variety of materials used in the creation of power objects with particular emphasis on the often transient nature of the objects, bundles, packets, and other elements added to the interiors and exteriors. The texts in Bessire 2009 and Blier 1995 consider not only the ephemerality of the materials used in the creation of the power object, but also investigate the ways that power objects may be buried or left to decay in the ground to protect or empower an individual or space. Doris 2009 and Doris 2011 investigates assemblages made of ephemeral objects in Yoruba culture and Colleyn 2009 presents the layers of transient materials in Bamana boliw. Texts in LaGamma 2015, MacGaffey 1993, and Thompson 1978 address the materiality and symbolism of power objects in Kongo culture.

  • Bessire, Aimée. “The Power of Ephemera: Permanence and Decay in Protective Power Objects.” African Arts 42.3 (2009): 16–27.

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    This article investigates the alternating power of permanence and decay in protective power objects in Tanzania. The author analyzes the “ephemerality” of the objects and the beliefs surrounding the permanence of their contained substances and the power of absence in the case of buried or concealed power objects.

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  • Blier, Suzanne Preston. African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and Power. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.

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    This important book investigates the powerful aesthetics of ephemeral materials such as rags, straw, beads, clay, fur, and blood to evoke a psychological and emotional response in their roles protecting and empowering people. Blier analyzes the ways that the aesthetics and counter-aesthetics of the raw materials of Vodun power objects may elicit a rich variety of responses.

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  • Colleyn, Jean-Paul. “Images, Signes, Fétiches: À propos de l’Art Bamana.” Cahiers d’Études Africaines 49.195 (2009): 733–745.

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    This article problematizes the use of the word “fetish” in its focus on Bamana boliw, which are made through layering a variety of ephemeral materials. Colleyn describes the creation, use, and “circulation” of the objects.

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  • Doris, David T. “Coming Together and Falling Apart: Something about Brooms and Nigeria.” African Arts 42.3 (2009): 42–51.

    DOI: 10.1162/afar.2009.42.3.42Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Doris analyzes the ephemerality of object-assemblages, called ààlé in Yoruba culture, which are used to protect properties from thieves. As a case study, he examines the power of ààlé made from brooms as a “site of ambivalent metaphor” and the broader symbolism of brooms in contemporary Yoruba culture.

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  • Doris, David T. Vigilant Things: On Thieves, Yoruba Anti-Aesthetics, and the Strange Fates of Ordinary Objects in Nigeria. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2011.

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    In this articulate and innovative approach to material culture, Doris analyzes assemblages of discarded and everyday objects in Yoruba culture. The well-written and researched book was awarded the African Studies Association’s Melville J. Herskovits Award in 2012.

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  • LaGamma, Alisa. “Mangaaka.” In Kongo: Power and Majesty. Edited by Alisa LaGamma, 221–265. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015.

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    This chapter from the important Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition catalogue on Kongo art by Alisa LaGamma presents a focused historical account of mangaaka, a specific type of defensive nkisi n’kondi power object. Of interest to scholars of ephemeral arts is the section entitled “Giving Form to Mangaaka,” which describes the materials used in the creation of the figures.

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  • MacGaffey, Wyatt. “The Eyes of Understanding: Kongo Minkisi.” In Astonishment and Power. By Wyatt MacGaffey and Michael D. Harris, 21–103. Washington, DC: National Museum of African Art in association with Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993.

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    MacGaffey presents a rich analysis of Kongo minkisi power objects, with specific historic focus on the years 1880–1921. He uses many firsthand accounts, including both Kongo and colonial voices from this era, in presenting the history and cultural background of minkisi.

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  • Thompson, R. F. “The Grand Detroit N’Kondi.” Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 56.4 (1978): 207–211.

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    Thompson provides an in-depth analysis of one nkisi n’kondi empowered object in the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Includes an in-depth visual and cultural analysis.

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Funerary Arts

Many funerary arts are intended to be ephemeral, often buried or left to decay at the gravesite (Jindra and Noret 2011). In the case of elaborate Ga coffins (Bonetti 2012, Tschumi 2013) and Kongo niombo figures (Thompson and Cornet 1981), they are viewed during funeral ceremonies and then buried with the deceased. These elaborate visual traditions provide insight into beliefs surrounding death and the identity of the deceased, creating a symbolic response to an individual’s ongoing memory. This section focuses on visual arts relating to the identity of the deceased including texts about the Dogon (van Beek 2018), Merina (Bloch 1993), Mijikenda (Giles, et al. 2004), and Senufo (Coulibaly 2015).

  • Bloch, Maurice. Placing the Dead: Tombs, Ancestral Villages, and Kinship Organization in Madagascar. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, 1993.

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    In this detailed study of Merina culture in Madagascar, Bloch investigates the complex funerary traditions including the use of large-scale tombs and the exhumation of the dead soon after their funeral. Some rituals are designed to help those who have died far from home become reintegrated into their homeland.

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  • Bonetti, Roberta. “Coffins for Wear and Consumption: Abebuu Adekai as Memory Makers Among the Ga of Ghana.” Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics 61.62 (2012): 262–278.

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    Bonetti analyzes abebuu adekai, or visually rich coffins of the Ga culture, as objects that are both “worn and inhabited.” She argues that the coffins serve as a representation of the “living body in motion” and the ways that coffin makers are “image and memory makers” (p. 263).

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  • Coulibaly, Nafogo. “Senufo Funerals in the Folona, Mali.” African Arts 48.1 (Spring 2015): 24–41.

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    Coulibaly provides a detailed description of a Senufo funeral in the Folona region of Mali. This includes details of the music, dance, and visual culture surrounding the funeral ceremonies.

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  • Giles, Linda, Monica L. Udvardy, and John B. Mitsanze. “Cultural Property as Global Commodities: The Case of Mijikenda Memorial Statues.” Cultural Survival Quarterly 27.4 (2004): 78–82.

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    This article outlines the use of Mijikenda memorial posts, which are erected in honor of the dead and intentionally left in the forest to decay.

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  • Jindra, Michael, and Joël Noret, eds. Funerals in Africa: Explorations of a Social Phenomenon. New York: Berghahn Books, 2011.

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    This edited volume provides detailed case studies of funerals in Africa. Of particular interest to the study of ephemerality are chapters highlighting the photographic and video documentation of funerals, such as that by Marleen de Witte, and the performance of mourning and funerary rituals performed in absence of the body.

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  • Thompson, Robert Farris, and Joseph Cornet. The Four Moments of the Sun: Kongo Art in Two Worlds. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1981.

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    This important and classic book on Kongo culture presents a richly contextualized cosmology of Kongo art. The sections on the large-scale niombo funerary figures which encase the deceased and are buried after an elaborate funerary procession are of particular interest in the context of ephemeral arts.

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  • Tschumi, Regula. “The Figurative Palanquins of the Ga: History and Significance.” African Arts 46.4 (2013): 60–73.

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    Tschumi considers the source of figurative coffins in Ga culture and presents a new origin theory, arguing against the previously held hypothesis that the tradition was invented by Kane Kwei. Tschumi suggests that the ephemeral coffins developed from the earlier tradition of figurative palanquins.

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  • van Beek, Walter E. A. “Matter in Motion: A Dogon Kanaga Mask.” Religions 9.9 (2018): 264.

    DOI: 10.3390/rel9090264Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    van Beek investigates the Kanaga mask used during Dogon funeral ceremonies. Of particular interest to the study of ephemerality is the performance of the mask in a second funeral ritual that creates what van Beek calls a “virtual reality” for the participants.

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Body Arts

Texts in this section address ephemeral body art in African cultures and as referenced by contemporary artists (Roberts 2007). These texts present the body painting of the Igbo (Adams 2005, Willis 1999), Wodaabe (Bovin 2001), and Nuba (Faris 1988) and the use of body painting in the work of Iké Udé (Firstenberg 1999, Harney 2007), and the body-based performance of Berni Searle (Gqola 2005). While scarification practices present a rich tradition of more permanent body art in Africa, ephemeral body art, or those removable, erasable traditions such as painting provide another context for understanding the connections between materiality, symbol, and identity.

  • Adams, Sarah. “People Have Three Eyes: Ephemeral Art and the Archive in Southeastern Nigeria.” RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 48 (2005): 11–32.

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    Adams considers the distinctions between studies of ephemeral uli art and the ways that African ephemeral arts have been addressed in general, specifically, the reliance on physical archives and mistrust for the oral histories. She investigates the tension between documentation of uli practices from early-20th-century colonial texts in archives and ongoing cultural memory through personal knowledge, oral history, and divinatory information.

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  • Bovin, Mette. Nomads Who Cultivate Beauty: Wodaabe Dances and Visual Arts in Niger. Uppsala, Sweden: Nordic Africa Institute, 2001.

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    In this well-illustrated book on the Wodaabe, Bovin draws from her long-term relationship with the culture (1968–2001 at the time of publication). She investigates the visual arts, cultural appropriation in Wodaabe aesthetics, and provides a strong analysis of costuming, dance, and performance. Of particular interest in relation to ephemerality is the context of men’s face painting.

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  • Faris, James. “Significance of Differences in the Male and Female Personal Art of the Southeast Nuba.” In Marks of Civilization: Artistic Transformations of the Human Body. Edited by Arnold Rubin, 29–40. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural Hist., University of California, 1988.

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    Faris’s essay analyzes the symbolism of Nuba ideology through body art traditions of young men and women in social relations and gendered division of labor. It is part of the groundbreaking collection of essays based on a 1983 symposium at UCLA organized by Arnold Rubin entitled “Art of the Body.”

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  • Firstenberg, Lauri. “A Stylist of Subjectivities: Interface in the Art of Iké Udé.” Third Text 46 (1999): 53–60.

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    Firstenberg presents the work of Iké Udé arguing that his “images refuse to be stereotyped.” In her theoretically rich analysis, the author presents many of the artist’s series. Of particular interest in relation to the ephemeral are Udé’s series Project Rear, the uli body painting series, and photographs with Kabuki face paint.

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  • Gqola, Pumla Dineo. “Memory, Diaspora and Spiced Bodies in Motion: Berni Searle’s Art.” African Identities 3.2 (October 2005): 123–138.

    DOI: 10.1080/14725840500235365Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Gqola investigates Searle’s body-based performance work through the lens of memory. This includes analysis of the artist’s symbolic use of spices and other “mundane domestic” ephemera in her commentary on overlapping diasporas, racism, and apartheid.

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  • Harney, Elizabeth. “A Conversation with Iké Udé.” In Inscribing Meaning: Writing and Graphic Systems in African Art. Edited by Christine Mullen Kreamer, Polly Nooter Roberts, Elizabeth Harney, and Allyson Purpura, 83–87. Washington, DC: Smithsonian, National Museum of African Art, 2007.

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    Harney focuses this interview with Iké Udé around the ways the artist uses text in his work. Of particular interest to ephemerality is Udé’s uli series and his use of Kabuki face paint.

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  • Roberts, Mary Nooter. “Inscribing Identity: The Body.” In Inscribing Meaning: Writing and Graphic Systems in African Art. Edited by Christine Mullen Kreamer, Polly Nooter Roberts, Elizabeth Harney, and Allyson Purpura, 55–69. Washington, DC: Smithsonian, National Museum of African Art, 2007.

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    This text provides an articulate overview of body arts in Africa and the significance produced through many distinct cultural traditions. The article includes an in-depth discussion of several scarification practices (a subject not included in this section on ephemeral art due to its permanence) and presents several contemporary artists who use the body as canvas.

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  • Willis, Liz. “Uli Painting and the Igbo World View.”’ African Arts 23.1 (1999): 62–67.

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    This essay provides a visual and cultural overview of the tradition of uli painting by Igbo women.

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Material Culture and Everyday Objects

The material in this section sheds light on the ways that everyday objects produce meaning through their daily use and individuals’ perceptions of ephemerality and permanence. The texts discuss African material culture in general (Sieber 1980) as well as Igbo (Aniakor 1996), Gurensi (Smith 1989), and Swahili coast cultures (Meier 2009).

  • Aniakor, Chike. “Household Objects and Igbo Space.” In African Material Culture. Edited by Mary Jo Arnoldi, Christraud M. Geary, and Kris L. Hardin, 214–242. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.

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    In this analysis, Aniakor investigates three verbal expressions that connect to objects in relation to Igbo material culture and their use in social space. He specifically addresses ephemerality and the objects in a section entitled” Ownership and Production of Household Objects.”

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  • Meier, Prita. “Objects on the Edge: Swahili Coast Logics of Display.” African Arts 42.4 (Winter 2009): 8–23.

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    Meier presents Swahili coast strategies of collecting and display and the power of material culture to convey meaning through cultural appropriation. The article considers the fluidity of objects across borders and their significance in East African daily life.

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  • Sieber, Roy. African Furniture and Household Objects. Bloomington: Indiana University Press in association with The American Federation of Arts, 1980.

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    This exhibition catalogue focuses a scholarly lens on the previously neglected field of African furniture and household objects. Sieber presents the objects in cultural context and also considers the concept of ownership, including the passing of objects through inheritance, or the destruction or abandonment of some objects when a family member dies.

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  • Smith, Fred T. “Earth, Vessels, and Harmony among the Gurensi.” African Arts 22.2 (February 1989): 60–65.

    DOI: 10.2307/3336719Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Smith presents the deep relationship Gurensi potters have with the earth and the role of earthen vessels in maintaining balance in the community. He includes an analysis of the symbolic nature of pots broken and used to protect offerings at shrines and the ways a woman’s eating bowl is broken at her funeral to symbolize the fleeting nature of her life.

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Contemporary Art

Many contemporary African artists use transient materials or create work intended to decay, disappear, or exist for a finite period of time. The texts in this section present work by contemporary artists that are fleeting in nature or confront ephemerality through symbol or metaphor. This includes analyses of Sammy Baloji’s layering of dirt and photomontages (Bragard 2018), William Boshoff’s use of language and text (Boshoff 2007, Dapena-Tretter 2014), Khaled Hafez’s mixed media work (Faruqi and Haggag 2013), Berni Searle and Sue Williamson (Miller 2005), and Hervé Yamguen (Malaquais 2009). Souissi 2005 presents an exhibition of ephemeral work by fifteen Tunisian artists.

  • Boshoff, Willem. “Language Works.” In Inscribing Meaning: Writing and Graphic Systems in African Art. Edited by Christine Mullen Kreamer, Polly Nooter Roberts, Elizabeth Harney, and Allyson Purpura, 154–157. Washington, DC: Smithsonian, National Museum of African Art, 2007.

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    Artist Willem Boshoff analyzes the power of language and ways it has been used for power and control by dominant cultures. He presents his own work deconstructing “dominance and power of privileged tongues” (p. 154). Of particular interest in relation to ephemeral art are the materials Boshoff uses in some works, which are intended to last for a single exhibition.

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  • Bragard, Véronique. “Reclaiming the Future: (In)visible dirt borders in Sammy Baloji’s Mining Photomontages.” Social Dynamics 44.2 (July 2018): 273–290.

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    Bragard analyzes the symbolic significance of mining dirt in Baloji’s photomontage series Essay on Urban Planning and Mémoire/Kolwezi.

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  • Dapena-Tretter, Antonia. “Willem Boshoff’s Visual Lists: A Personal Plea for Cultural Preservation.” African Arts 47.3 (2014): 58–65.

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    The author analyzes contemporary artist Willem Boshoff’s use of language and text. This includes an investigation of Boshoff’s piece Writing in the Sand, an ephemeral work presenting graphics in sand, one that Allyson Purpura said inspired her interest in the ephemeral that led to the deeper study presented in two issues of African Arts.

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  • Faruqi, Samar, and Noura Haggag, eds. Khaled Hafez: Moving Forward by the Day. Dubai: Publications Department of Meem Gallery with Art Advisory Associates Ltd., 2013.

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    This exhibition catalogue presents Hafez’s mixed media works focusing on the notion of memory and identity in relation to the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

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  • Malaquais, Dominique. “The Dripping Man: Art, the Ephemeral, and the Urban Soul.” African Arts 42.3 (2009): 28–41.

    DOI: 10.1162/afar.2009.42.3.28Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Malaquais investigates the ways that the ephemeral informs the work of Hervé Yamguen. Presenting the ephemeral conditions in which the photographs are made, the author analyzes Yamguen’s subjectivity as an African man and his criticism of postcolonial experience.

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  • Miller, Kim. “Trauma, Testimony, and Truth: Contemporary South African Artists Speak.” African Arts 38.3 (Autumn 2005): 40–51, 93–94.

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    Miller analyzes how “notions of trauma and truth” in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission are visually presented through the work of artists such as Sue Williamson and Berni Searle. Williamson’s Truth Games series presents physical and narrative evidence of testimonies given at the TRC hearings and Searle’s A Darker Shade of Light uses her own body to present trauma.

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  • Souissi, Leila. L’Art Ephémère. Tunis: Palais Al-Abdalliya la Marsa, Tunisie, 2005.

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    This exhibition catalogue presents the 2005 installation of ephemeral works by seven Tunisian contemporary artists in the 15th-century Palais al-Abdalliya in Marsa, Tunisia. Many of the works were painted directly onto the palace walls but were painted over at the end of the exhibition creating an ephemeral expression.

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Performance Arts: Introduction

Performance, masquerade, and ceremony have long been a source of fascination for scholars. This section presents the wide variety of African performance arts with specific focus on transiency and ephemerality. All performance exists as a moment in time, one that can be revisited only through memory or recording. The essays and books are organized by thematic category of performance art: general overviews, masquerade, initiation arts, contemporary performance art, sound, installation, time-based/temporal art, and video.

General Overviews

This section presents general overviews of African performance traditions. This includes an anthology of key writings on performance, The Performance Arts of Africa (Harding 2002), as well as cross-cultural analyses of masquerades (MacNaughton 1991). Many of the sources bring together focused cultural studies in one volume creating a collection of the breadth of traditions (Lamp 2004), while others present focused studies of one area (Arnoldi 1995, Boni 2008, Drewal 1992, Vogel 1997). Thompson 1974 analyzes performance and other traditions through the lens of motion.

  • Arnoldi, Mary Jo. Playing with Time: Art and Performance in Central Mali. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995.

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    Focusing on the masquerade traditions of a youth association in four cultural groups in the Segou region of Mali, Arnoldi analyzes performance from distinct perspectives as a site for the expression of cultural identity.

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  • Boni, Stefano. “Female Cleansing of the Community: The Momome Ritual of the Akan World.” Cahiers D’études Africaines 48.4 (2008): 765–790.

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    In this article, Boni presents a women’s ritual ceremony intended to cleanse the community during moments of crisis. He analyzes the ideology of the performative ceremony and considers the ways that institutional politics have shaped how individuals may seek forms of supernatural protection.

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  • Drewal, Margaret Thompson. Yoruba Performance: Performers, Play, Agency. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992.

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    Drewal presents a new approach to ritual and performance in this excellent focus on Yoruba culture. She investigates the ways in which the thoughts, actions, and improvisation of those participating in the masquerade impact the texture of the performance.

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  • Harding, Francis. The Performance Arts in Africa: A Reader. London: Routledge, 2002.

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    In her introduction, Harding provides a broad overview of performance traditions in Africa and presents some of the debates surrounding the topic. Harding includes articles by scholars on traditional and contemporary masquerade and public ceremonies as well as others on theater performance. This anthology of key writings in the field could be a first stop for scholars interested in exploring the range of traditions on the continent through individual essays on specific performance traditions.

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  • Lamp, Frederick John, ed. See the Music, Hear the Dance: Rethinking African Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2004.

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    This beautiful catalogue presents African art from the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art through the lens of performance and ritual. The short essays by thirty-eight specialists in their fields of African art history provide in-depth background on the performative practices associated with the individual objects.

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  • MacNaughton, Patrick. “Is There History in Horizontal Masks? A Preliminary Response to the Dilemma of Form.” African Arts 24.2 (1991): 40–53, 88–90.

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    This ambitious study investigates the possibility that horizontal masks in West and Central Africa share conceptual space. McNaughton creates an interesting cross-cultural overview of horizontal masking traditions.

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  • Thompson, Robert Farris. African Art in Motion: Icon and Art in the Collection of Katherine Coryton White. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1974.

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    This important study frames African masquerade through the trope of motion. Thompson addresses the cultural context of the masks and masquerade related arts in the collection of Katherine Coryton White.

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  • Vogel, Susan. Baule: African Art, Western Eyes. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997.

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    In this exhibition catalogue, Vogel presents a unique lens for the study of Baule art, creating a distinction between Baule culture and traditions and the Western definition of Baule objects as “art.” Based on over twenty-five years of Vogel’s research, the book presents a rich view of Baule culture including beautiful photographs. Chapter 5 “Art that is Watched: Performances” is of particular interest in relation to performance arts.

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Masquerade Arts

Articles in this section address the ephemeral materials used as part of specific masquerade traditions in different contexts. They present cross-cultural analyses of masquerades (Cole 1985) and unique case studies from Burkina Faso (Roy 2003), Mali (Arnoldi 1996), Nigeria (Peek 2002, Foss 2003), and Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola (Petridis 2003). McCluskey and Massaquoi 2015 presents contemporary artists’ work responding to African masquerade and performance traditions. Together, the articles provide insight into the ways that ephemerality evokes significance in masquerade.

  • Arnoldi, Mary Jo. “Material Narratives and the Negotiation of Identities Through Objects in Malian Theatre.” In African Material Culture. Edited by Mary Jo Arnoldi and Christraud M. Geary, 167–187. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.

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    In this essay Arnoldi presents an interesting case study of the Sogo bò in one village on the Niger River. She examines masquerade characters and the ways that three different performance groups use performative objects to distinguish their unique identity in the context of the broader community.

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  • Cole, Herbert M., ed. I Am Not Myself: The Art of African Masquerade. Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural History, University of California, 1985.

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    This book presents a study of African masked performance including student essays on specific cultural traditions written for a 1983 seminar with Herbert Cole. Cole’s introductory chapter presents a cross-cultural analysis of masking traditions on the continent.

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  • Foss, Perkins. “Eravwe: An Ephemeral Urhobo Water Spirit Masquerade.” In Material Differences: Art and Identity in Africa. Edited by Frank Herremann, 133–135. New York: Museum for African Art, 2003.

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    Foss analyzes the Urhobo Eravwe masquerade honoring the water spirit Ohworhu. Of particular interest in the study of the ephemeral are the materials used to construct personifications of the water spirit and the transitory nature of the large-scale figures, which are created, performed, and then given back to the rivers.

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  • McCluskey, Pamela, and Erika Dalya Massaquoi. Disguise: Masks and Global African Art. New Haven, CT, and London: Seattle Art Museum in association with Yale University Press, 2015.

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    This beautiful exhibition catalogue investigates the notion of the mask and disguise in contemporary African art. McCluskey includes an excellent overview of masquerade and performance traditions. Using masks in the Seattle Art Museum collection as inspiration, ten artists present “fresh visions” of masquerade and disguise.

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  • Peek, Philip M. “The Owu/Oworu Masquerade Complex.” In Ways of the River: Arts and Environment of the Niger Delta. Edited by Martha G. Anderson and Philip M. Peek, 244–249. Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 2002.

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    Peek presents a cultural context of the Owu/Oworu water spirit masquerades performed by Isoku and Urhobo cultures along the Niger Delta. The transitory materials and nature of the masks are of interest in the study of ephemerality.

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  • Petridis, Constantine. “Kalengula: Ephemeral Masks Among the Luntu and Neighboring Peoples of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola.” In Material Differences: Art and Identity in Africa. Edited by Frank Herremann, 137–141. New York: Museum for African Art, 2003.

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    Kalengula masks are used by various cultures for ceremonies such as funerals, royal installations, and entertaining performances. In this article Petridis highlights the ephemeral materials used in the construction of the masks.

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  • Roy, Christopher D. “Leaf Masks Among the Bobo and the Bwa.” In Material Differences: Art and Identity in Africa. Edited by Frank Herremann, 123–127. New York: Museum for African Art, 2003.

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    Roy analyzes the ways that leaves from the karite tree symbolize the power of spiritual rebirth, fertility, and new spring growth in Bobo and Bwa cultures, among others.

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Initiation Arts

Initiations are ephemeral moments marking transitional periods for individuals. As the articles in this section suggest, visual culture related to initiation is often ephemeral in nature, constructed for specific ceremonies and later disassembled or left to decay. Many initiation architectural structures, sculpture, and costumes are also constructed from ephemeral materials. Articles in this section elucidate the symbolism of the ephemeral during these life transitions as seen in the broad overview African Ceremonies (Beckwith and Fisher 1999) and the focused studies on the Amazigh (Becker 2006), Bemba (Hoover 2000), Chewa (Yoshida 1993), Lagoon (Visonà 2010), Kuba (Binkley 2010), Nkanu (Van Damme 2001), and Soli (Simbao 2010).

  • Becker, Cynthia. Amazigh Arts in Morocco: Women Shaping Berber Identity. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006.

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    Becker presents a thorough study of the ways that women shape Berber cultural identity through dress, adornment, ceremonies, and their use of material culture. Especially pertinent to the study of the ephemeral are the sections on specific ceremonies as well as the details of the transition from nomadic to more settled lifestyle.

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  • Beckwith, Carol, and Angela Fisher. African Ceremonies. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1999.

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    This lush, two-volume set presents a visual journey through the performances and ceremonies of cultures across the African continent. It includes 850 beautiful photographs by Beckwith and Fisher and serves as an outstanding visual resource.

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  • Binkley, David A. “Southern Kuba Initiation Rites: The Ephemeral Face of Power and Secrecy.” African Arts 43.1 (2010): 44–59.

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    Binkley investigates the ephemeral arts associated with Southern Kuba intitation rites, specifically the large initiation walls and sculptures constructed for the ceremonies, as well as raffia costumes, masks, and other objects constructed in the forest initiation camp. The article focuses on the ways that these ephemeral arts are used as visual symbols of the intitiates’ transition from boy to man.

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  • Hoover, Deborah A. “Revealing the Mbusa as Art Women Artists in Zambia.” African Arts 33.3 (Autumn 2000): 40–53.

    DOI: 10.2307/3337688Save Citation »Export Citation » Share Citation »

    Hoover presents and analyzes mbusa, or “things handed down” such as ceramic vessels, sculptures, and wall paintings that are made for Bemba girls’ initiation ceremonies and weddings and destroyed after use. The article examines mbusa through the lens of the re-creation of one woman’s “mbusa ceremony,” which she considered as a performance piece, a transient and ephemeral work of art commemorating the memory of the original event.

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  • Simbao, Ruth. “The Dialectics of Dance and Dress: The Performative Negotiation of Soli Girl Initiates (Moye) in Zambia.” African Arts 43.3 (2010): 64–85.

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    Simbao presents a thoughtful analysis of dress and performance through the contextual complexities of Soli girls’ initiations. This includes descriptions of garments (some ephemeral), music and dance, and an interesting dialogue about debates of the many layers of authenticity in a performance.

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  • van Damme, Annemieke. Spectacular Display: The Art of Nkanu Initiation Rituals. Washington, DC, and London: Smithsonian, National Museum of African Art in association with Philip Wilson Publishers, 2001.

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    In this exhibition catalogue for the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, van Damme analyzes the history and significance of the masks, sculpture, head posts, and panels created for youth initiations in Nkanu tradition in Central Africa.

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  • Visonà, Monica Blackmun. “Age-Set Festivals as Performance Art.” In Constructing African Art Histories for the Lagoons of Côte d’Ivoire. By Monica Blackmun Visonà, 135–162. Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2010.

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    In this study, Visonà investigates the age-grade initiation of Lagoon culture. She provides insightful perspective through her analysis of the ceremonies as well as her own participation in three age-grade initiations and compares this perspective with the work of other scholars.

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  • Yoshida, Kenji. “Masks and Secrecy among the Chewa.” African Arts 26.2 (1993): 34–45, 92.

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    This article presents Chewa masquerades with attention to secrecy and “its role in delineating gender boundaries” (p. 34). Yoshida’s study focuses on male ceremonies, but also includes research on female initiations and a broader context of gender relations.

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Contemporary Performance Art

Texts in this section explore the variety of contemporary performance arts in Africa. Enwezor and Okeke-Agulu 2009 presents a theoretical investigation of contemporary art across the African continent and includes many performance artists. Most texts in this section present analyses of one artist’s work. This includes the collective Laboratoire Agit-Art from Senegal (Harney 2010), Nigerian born Zina Saro-Wiwa (Powell 2016), and South African–based artists Kendell Geers (Kellner 2013), Doung Anwar Jahangeer (Simbao 2013), Nandipha Mntambo (Simbao and Elliott 2011), Tracey Rose (Jones 2004), Athi-Patra Ruga (Buys 2010), and Berni Searle (Coombes 2001).

  • Buys, Anthea. “Athi-Patra Ruga and the Politics of Context.” Critical Arts: A South-North Journal of Cultural and Media Studies 24.3 (2010): 480–485.

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    This essay analyzes South African artist Athi-Patra Ruga’s performance work in the context of “our sense of historical, physical, sexual and psychological place” (p. 480). Buys investigates Ruga’s performances in reference to the tradition of camp in South African performance.

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  • Coombes, Annie E. “Skin Deep/Bodies of Evidence: The Work of Berni Searle.” In Authentic/Ex-Centric: Conceptualism in Contemporary African Art. Edited by Salah M. Hassan and Olu Oguibe, 178–199. Ithaca, NY: The Forum for African Arts, 2001.

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    This essay investigates Berni Searle’s art, specifically her performative work using the body.

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  • Enwezor, Okwui, and Chika Okeke-Agulu, eds. Contemporary African Art since 1980. Bologna, Italy: Damiani, 2009.

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    This important major survey of contemporary African art examines work that reflects the “geopolitical, economic, technological, and cultural shifts” in a globalizing world. The book includes work by many artists whose work may address ephemerality, both materially or through time-based work.

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  • Harney, Elizabeth. “Postcolonial Agitations: Avant-Gardism in Dakar and London.” New Literary History 41.4 (November 2010): 731–751.

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    In this article, Harney highlights a performance by the Senegalese art collective Laboratoire Agit-Art and discusses the piece as a lens to a broader discussion of post-colonialism and notions of the avant-garde.

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  • Jones, Kellie. “Tracey Rose.” Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art 19 (2004): 26–31.

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    Jones presents the work of Tracey Rose, emphasizing her performative use of her own body as a replacement for the objectified “ethnographic figure.”

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  • Kellner, Clive, ed. Kendell Geers: 1988–2012. New York: Prestel, 2013.

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    This catalogue from the exhibition at the Haus der Kunst in Munich presents an overview of Geers’s work between 1988 and 2012.

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  • Powell, Amy L., ed. Zina Saro-Wiwa: Did You Know We Taught Them How to Dance? Champaign, IL: Krannert Art Museum, 2016.

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    This exhibition catalogue presents the work created by Zina Saro-Wiwa when she traveled to her birthplace in Nigeria for the first time in thirteen years. The performative video work is of interest to those studying contemporary performance, especially the work entitled Karikpo Pipeline (2015). Saro-Wiwa highlights the traditions of food, masquerade, religion, and folklore through the lens of the contemporary politics of life in Nigeria.

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  • Simbao, Ruth. “Walking the Other Side: Doung Anwar Jahangeer.” Third Text 27.3 (2013): 407–414.

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    Simbao presents the work of Doung Anwar Jahangeer, a Mauritian born artist living in South Africa, through the lens of pathways. She analyzes Jahangeer’s City Walk piece, in which he walks the city, tracing social space with his body.

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  • Simbao, Ruth, and David Elliott. Nandipha Mntambo: Standard Bank Young Artist Award 2011. Cape Town: Stevenson Gallery, 2011.

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    This exhibition catalogue presents the performance-based work of Nandipha Mntambo.

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Sound

Sound is by definition ephemeral, existing as auditory utterance that can only be heard again when recorded. Texts in this section present analyses of sound in the work of Em’kal Eyongakpa and Dawit L Petros (Byrd 2017) and Djibril Diop Mambéty (Dima 2017).

  • Byrd, Antawan I. “By Sight and Sound: Along the Wayfarings of Em’kal Eyongakpa and Dawit L Petros.” In Recent Histories: Contemporary African Photography and Video Art. Edited by Oluremi C. Onabanjo, 267–273. Göttingen, Germany, and New York: Steidl and The Walther Collection, 2017.

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    This short essay explores temporality, sight, and sound through the work of artists Em’kal Eyongakpa (Cameroon) and Dawit L. Petros (Eritrea). Byrd argues that both artists “embrace multisensory strategies in order to refute singular narratives” of the continent.

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  • Dima, Vlad. Sonic Space in Djibril Diop Mambéty’s Films. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2017.

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    Dima explores the ways that unique sounds, such as voice, background noise, and silence, are used as narrative tools in Djibril Diop Mambéty’s films.

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Installation

The texts in this section present a breadth of African installation work. Many of the essays investigate installations using ephemeral materials, such as in the work of Georges Adéagbo (Zaya 2012), Moshekwa Langa (Janus and Walker 2002), Kofi Setordji (Woets 2010), and Pascale Marthine Tayou (Maltz-Leca and Rodrigues 2016). Other texts present Meschac Gaba’s Museum of Contemporary African Art (Greenberg 2014) and the influence of photo-documentation and commercial advertising on Egyptian artists (Hafez 2012).

  • Greenberg, Kerryn. Meschac Gaba: Museum of Contemporary African Art. London: Tate Museums, 2014.

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    This exhibition catalogue from the Tate Modern presents Gaba’s Museum of Contemporary African Art, an ambitious twelve-room, mixed media installation.

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  • Hafez, Khaled. Egyptian Hyperreal Pop: The Rise of a Hybrid Vernacular. Saarbrücken, Germany: Lambert Academic, 2012.

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    Hafez presents the influence of photo-documentation and commercial advertising on the work of Sabah Naim, Hazem Taha Hussein, and Nermine Hammam.

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  • Janus, Elizabeth, and Hamza Walker. Moshekwa Langa. Chicago: Renaissance Society, 2002.

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    This book documents installations of Langa’s work at the Renaissance Society (Chicago) and Centre d’Art Contemporain (Geneva). It provides background on the multidimensionality of the artist’s work in different media: collage, drawing, painting, found object installations, and video. Of particular interest to studies of ephemerality is Langa’s use of ephemeral found objects in collages, installations, and temporal video work.

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  • Maltz-Leca, Leora, and Gemma Rodrigues. World Share: Installations by Pascale Marthine Tayou. Los Angeles: Fowler Museum, 2016.

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    This exhibition catalogue presents the installation work of Pascale Marthine Tayou at the Fowler Museum at UCLA. With an aesthetic of accumulation, Tayou uses such ephemera in his installations as Styrofoam, pins, razor blades, plastic flower, feathers, and found objects.

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  • Whitley, Zoé. “Today and Yesterday, Forever: Negotiating Time and Space in the Art of Mame-Diarra Niang and Dineo Seshee Bopape.” Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research 12.2/3 (December 2014): 175–183.

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    Whitley investigates past, present, and future in relation to site-responsive installations by Niang and Bopape.

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  • Woets, Rhoda. “Comprehend the Incomprehensible: Kofi Setordji’s Travelling Memorial of the Rwanda Genocide.” African Arts 43.3 (Autumn 2010): 52–63.

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    This article analyzes Setordji’s large-scale, traveling memorial of the Rwandan Genocide and how it was received by different audiences, survivors, witnesses, and distant viewers.

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  • Zaya, Octavio, ed. Georges Adéagbo: The Mission and the Missionaries. Leon, Spain: MUSAC, 2012.

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    This book includes essays by scholars exploring Adéagbo’s The Mission and the Missionaries, which includes ephemera from the past including photographs, cloth, books, and magazines.

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Time-Based/Temporal Art

Texts in this section present the various ways that artists visualize temporality in their work. Special issue of Representations explores the larger notion of time-based and durational art and includes Allan deSouza’s piece about his own work (see Special Issue: Time Zones: Durational Art and Its Contexts). Mack 2009 investigates time-based work by Allan deSouza, and Dreyer 2016 and Fleming 2013 both consider duration in the films of William Kentridge. Zervigón 2002 analyzes Siemon Allen’s Screen and Powell, et al. 2015 uses Gilles Deleuze’s theory of “the time-image” to present art and film/video relating to temporality. Their analyses of work by Siemon Allen and Allan deSouza are of particular interest to ephemerality and African art.

  • Dreyer, Elfriede. “Of Clocks Ticking: Heterotopic Space, Time and Motion in William Kentridge’s The Refusal of Time (2012).” Communicatio: South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research 42.3 (September 2016): 338–360.

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    This article explores Kentridge’s The Refusal of Time through the lens of “space, time and motion.”

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  • Fleming, David H. “Charcoal Matter with Memory: Images, Movement, Time, and Duration in the Films of William Kentridge.” Film-Philosophy 17.1 (2013): 402–423.

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    Fleming considers time and duration in Kentridge’s film and video work.

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  • Mack, Joshua. “Allan deSouza: The Lost Pictures.” Modern Painters (September 2009): 109.

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    This exhibition review examines Allan deSouza’s The Lost Pictures series, images taken by the artist’s father in the 1960s, reprinted and placed throughout deSouza’s apartment. The review considers the failure of memory and the still image to record the past.

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  • Powell, Amy L., Kara Keeling, Raqs Media Collective, and Jeannine Tang. Time/Image. Houston: Blaffer Art Museum, 2015.

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    This exhibition catalogue considers Gilles Deleuze’s theory of “the time-image” as a lens for presenting the work of artists and film-makers. Analyses of Siemon Allen and Allan deSouza are of particular interest to the study of temporality and ephemerality.

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  • Special Issue: Time Zones: Durational Art and Its Contexts. Representations 136.1 (Fall 2016): 132–172.

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    In this special issue of Representations, University of California Berkeley faculty explores the notion of time-based art. Of particular interest is Allan deSouza’s piece defining temporal work, including a description of the way he uses photography as a time-based medium and text and video as durational.

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  • Zervigón, Andrés Mario. “The Weave of Memory: Siemon Allen’s Screen in Postapartheid South Africa.” Art Journal 61.1 (Spring 2002): 68–81.

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    Zervigón investigates Allen’s Screen through the lens of memory, considering the piece as an “antimemorial” in relation to other post-apartheid artists’ tendency to renegotiate the past. The author provides analysis of the opacity of the VHS video tape covering twelve panels.

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Video Art

Texts in this section exemplify the breadth of distinct video work being produced by African artists. In addition to its overview of photography, Recent Histories: Contemporary African Photography and Video Art (Onabanjo 2017) presents an important overview of video work from Africa. Other texts present work by John Akomfrah (Gioni and Carrion-Murayari 2018), Simon Gush (Selmeczi 2016), Amal Kenawy (Jakubowski 2017), William Kentridge (Rosenthal 2009), the Otolith Group (Eshun, et al. 2015), and Zineb Sediraz (Obrist 2012).

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