{"id":14747,"date":"2026-08-18T08:31:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T08:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/culturalleft.org\/cl\/2026\/08\/18\/pan-african-exhibition-confused-by-its-own-project-reviews-culture-socialist-worker\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T08:31:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T08:31:14","slug":"pan-african-exhibition-confused-by-its-own-project-reviews-culture-socialist-worker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culturalleft.org\/cl\/2026\/08\/18\/pan-african-exhibition-confused-by-its-own-project-reviews-culture-socialist-worker\/","title":{"rendered":"Pan-African exhibition confused by its own project Reviews & Culture – Socialist Worker"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"This\n

This exhibition\u2019s Panafrica exists in a post-\u00admodernist relationship with the tradition of Pan-Africanism<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The exhibition Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica mixes \u00adartworks alongside \u00adartefacts from more than a \u00adcentury of Pan\u2011Africanism in a s\u00adometimes beguiling jumble.<\/p>\n

It contains many \u00adfascinating and exciting works both from various African countries and the African diaspora.<\/p>\n

These include all six of the monumental mural series The Art of the Negro by Hale Aspacio Woodruff, \u00adproduced in 1950-51 for the historically black Clark Atlanta University in pre-civil rights Georgia. These proudly place black artists and culture at the heart of wider world history from ancient Egypt onwards.<\/p>\n

The exhibition has an impressive desire to \u00adforeground women, like British artist Lynette Yiadom\u2011Boakye, with her \u00adspecially produced portraits.<\/p>\n

Traditional Kenyan kanga cloths have been \u00adrepurposed by Kawira Mwirichia to defend LGBT+ rights.<\/p>\n

It is dotted with display cases featuring items from the history of the Pan-African movement. Pamphlets, books and \u00adportraits feature thinkers and leaders including Marcus Garvey, George Padmore, Amy Ashwood and Frantz Fanon. But why they are significant is only hinted at.<\/p>\n

Much of the most \u00adengaging art is about specific experiences. Liz Johnson Artur\u2019s video installation explores growing up black in south London over the past 60\u00a0years.<\/p>\n

Bertina Lopes\u2019s 1974 \u00adpainting Fear Out of Memory evokes the horrors of Mozambique\u2019s independence war. But you have to know the history to identify this.<\/p>\n

Most historical works aren\u2019t labelled with the \u00adartist\u2019s country of origin, removing them from the events and experiences that inspired them.<\/p>\n

The exhibition features lots of fascinating art from the African diaspora, but the confusion is reflected in its awkward title\u2014what does Panafrica mean? It relates somehow to the Pan-African movement that grew from a series of congresses \u00adstarting in 1900. This peaked with the call by<\/p>\n

Kwame Nkrumah, first leader of independent Ghana, for African states to politically unite against imperialism.<\/p>\n

This exhibition\u2019s Panafrica exists in a post-\u00admodernist relationship with these p\u00adrojects, apparently embarrassed by the Pan-Africanists\u2019 grand dream of changing the world.<\/p>\n

It would never be possible to follow all the multidirectional cultural references from the African diaspora, but this exhibition sometimes seems to revel in making them obscure.<\/p>\n