Here are the top four culture events celebrating women and their art.
Women are championing for their respect and equity among others, especially in public spaces. The month of March declared the Women's History Month honors womanhood, acknowledging the contributions of women in events of history and contemporary society. This celebration of women just got more exciting, this week especially.
Here are the top four culture events celebrating women and their art.
SABO Art and Amar Singh Gallery launch an art exhibition to celebrate Womanhood and Women’s History Month.
Dubbed “I Am Not A Goddess...Unless I Say I Am”, the art exhibition by SABO Art and Amar Singh Gallery does not only explore themes of female identity but also challenges the romanticisation of women using the "goddess trope".
Eleven African women artists; Anne Adams, Bunmi Agusto, Fadekemi Ogunsanya, Layo Bright, Manyaku Mashilo, Nola Ayoola, Osaru Obaseki, Peju Alatise, Shannon Bono, Tobi Alexandra Falade and Yagazie Emezi were featured during the exhibition to show women in the true light; women of diverse social identities – age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, social class, religion, physical appearance, style.
From faceless figures that give room for introspection, reimagined Benin historic sculptures, and emotive paintings evoking self awareness whilst exploring mental health, the women are taking charge of their narrative and proving that women can be and not be a goddess; a decision that lies in her power. The art exhibition is running now and you can watch it in person from March 15 to 28 at the Alliance Française in Lagos, Nigeria or online via iamnotagoddess.art.
From Dakar to Geneva; Women In Public Spaces.
In Geneva, the beauty and struggles of womanhood are being honoured with an artistic graffiti painting during the Semaine de l'égalité and International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights; an international event dedicated to film and human rights.
To celebrate womanhood and its struggles, two Geneva artists Amical and Nadia Seika joined forces with Zeinixx; the first female graffiti artist Senegal, a multi-talented creative and activist to do a live painting on the city's walls that lasted for ten days.
The fresco features a colourful woman speaking out with her hand fisted, symbolizing the shift that is currently happening among women all over the world. The idea was to metaphorically bring women into public spaces through a gigantic fresco. By painting the fresco in an area where women are far from being in the majority, the trio is not only celebrating and affirming women in public spaces but also symbolising the female voice in public space whilst calling for equality.
Orita Meta: An Ode to the Woman
And in Los Angeles, femininity and gender are being explored by Rele Gallery’s debut International exhibition, Orita Meta. The exhibition is happening in Los Angeles; their new residence explores Orita Meta, the Yoruba word for a junction where three roads meet. This is more of symbolism, representing the works of three equally talented yet entirely unique female artists; Marcellina Akpojotor, Chidinma Nnoli and Tonia Nneji displayed in the exhibition.
To make a bold statement with the opening of their LA branch, Adenrele Sonariwo; an ambitious Nigerian gallerist and the curator at Rele Gallery intentionally centers the exhibition around women using the works of Nigerian female artists to tackle the underrepresentation of female artists globally whiles celebrating women and their existing works.
By representing mothers, aunties, grandmothers and sisters in painting, showing their curves, body rolls, scars, smiles and the like, these artists are telling the stories of the diverse breed of women that deserve to be recognized in the spaces that they find themselves in.
Enter Paradise; The Real World of the Black woman.
In Accra's ADA, a contemporary art gallery specializing in the work of emerging artists across Africa and its diaspora, the woman are being seen, celebrated and amplified through the work of Zandile Tshabalala in a series of paintings she titled “Enter Paradise”.
Noticing the constant misrepresentation of the Black woman, Tshabalala using deluxe and colour-rich acrylic paintings puts the Black woman in the right light.
Composed of self-portraits showing highly pigmented skin-toned figures on allegorical canvases, the artist unapologetically portrays confident, steady women, empowered in the radiance of their beauty, intelligence and subtle glamour, affirming ownership over their own body and sexual nature challenging the ideas of the past about Black women.
