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Africa Centre, London
The Africa Centre, London was founded in 1964 at 38 King Street, Covent Garden, where over the years it held many art exhibitions, conferences, lectures, and a variety of cultural events, as well as housing a gallery, meeting halls, restaurant, bar and bookshop. The Africa Centre closed its original venue in 2013, and now has a permanent home at 66 Great Suffolk Street, Southwark, south London. It is a registered charity. History The Africa Centre was opened in 1964 at a ceremony officiated by Kenneth Kaunda, the newly elected first president of Zambia, at the Grade II-listed 38 King Street. The building, which had been a banana warehouse in the 18th century and subsequently an auction house, was "given by the Catholic Church in perpetuity to the people of Africa in 1962".Richard Dowden"Saving the Africa Centre?" ''African Arguments'', 13 June 2011. The idea for the centre was conceived in 1961 by Margaret Feeny, whose aim (as described by Lloyd Bradley) was "to foster non-go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Feeny
Margaret Mary Feeny (1917 – 3 January 2012) was the founder and first director of London's Africa Centre charity, from 1963 to 1978. Biography Margaret Feeny was born in 1917, the eleventh of twelve children of a businessman. Feeny was General Secretary of the Sword of the Spirit, which became the Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR), and then Progressio. She conceptualized the Africa Centre, London, and organised support from both Africans and Britons to bring the idea to fruition. The Africa Centre was registered as a charity in 1961, and in 1964 opened to the public at 38 King Street, Covent Garden, with Feeny as its first director. She remained in that role from 1963 until 1978. In 1975, she moved to Bath, Somerset. She became a Social Democratic Party then Liberal Democrat councillor in 1994, and Mayor of Bath in 1996, but had a stroke while on official business to their twin town of Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angelique Rockas
Angelique Rockas is an actress, producer and activist. Rockas founded the theatre company Internationalist Theatre in the UK with her patron Athol Fugard. The theatre featured multi-racial casts in classical plays."a historic example of theatre work addressing representation in the most valuable manner" As an actress Rockas`s work has been characterized by "her strong interpretation of roles". Early life Rockas was born and raised in Boksburg, South Africa, to Greek parents who had emigrated from Greece with hopes of finding a better life. She had three siblings, followed Greek Orthodox Christian traditions, and was taught to honour her Greek cultural heritage. She received her early education at St Dominic's Catholic School for Girls, Boksburg, and later earned a bachelor's degree in English literature with a major in philosophy at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. After earning her degree, Rockas went on to complete an acting course at the Drama School of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Veronica Ryan
Veronica Maudlyn Ryan (born 1956 in Plymouth, Montserrat) is a Montserrat-born British sculptor. She moved to London with her parents when she was an infant and now lives between New York and Bristol. In December 2022, Ryan won the Turner Prize for her 'really poetic' work. Early life Born in 1956 in Plymouth, Montserrat, Ryan recalls her interest in art developing during her school years. In particular, she remembers making a Christmas tree in infant school and being inspired by the creative use of materials in a minimalistic way.The Art House UK"Veronica Ryan , Change Makers Artist in Residence, 2017" video recording, YouTube, 10 January 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2020. She also cites her mother's patchwork as an inspiration for her art. Ryan studied aHertfordshire College of Art and Design(1974–75), Bath Academy of Art (1975–78), Slade School of Fine Art (1978–80), University College London, and the School for Oriental and African Studies (SOAS, 1981–83). Fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Houria Niati
Houria Niati (born 1948) is an Algerian contemporary artist living in London. Niati specializes in mixed media installations that criticize Western representations and objectification of north African and Middle Eastern women. Her installations notably have live performances most commonly traditional Algerian music such as Raï, as a key visual representation of Niati's homeland and culture. Salah M. Hassan further details her performances, "She uses synthesizers, sound recordings, and special light effects to create a theatrical atmosphere and a vibrant magical environment of sound, body movement, and color." The installations and exhibitions join together paintings, sculptures, drawings, photos, soundtracks, and performances. Early life and career Niati grew up in French-occupied Algeria, where over one million Algerians were killed for resisting occupation. When Niati was twelve years old, she demonstrated against French colonialism with her anti-colonial graffiti, which lan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lubaina Himid
Lubaina Himid (born 1954) is a British artist and curator. She is a professor of contemporary art at the University of Central Lancashire.Biography; Full CV Lubaina Himid website. Her art focuses on themes of cultural history and reclaiming identities."Lubaina Himid" Northern Art Prize. Himid was one of the first artists involved in the UK's Black Art movement in the 1980s and continues to create activist art which is shown in galleries in Britain, as well as worldwide. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claudette Johnson
Claudette Elaine Johnson (born 1959) is a British visual artist. She is known for her large-scale drawings of Black women and her involvement with the BLK Art Group, of which she was a founder member. She was described by Modern Art Oxford as "one of the most accomplished figurative artists working in Britain today". A finalist for the Turner Prize in 2024, Johnson was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts the same year. Her work is in a number of public collections, including the Tate Britain, Arts Council England, Manchester Art Gallery. Biography Claudette Johnson was born in Manchester, UK. She studied Fine Art at Wolverhampton Polytechnic. While still a student there, she became a founder member of the BLK Art Group and took part in their second show at the Africa Centre, London, in 1983. Her talk, and seminar, at the First National Black Arts Conference in 1982 is recognised as a formative moment in the Black feminist art movement in the UK. Johnson's work has feat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sonia Boyce
Dame Sonia Dawn Boyce (born 1962) is a British British African-Caribbean community, Afro-Caribbean artist and educator who lives and works in London. She is a Professor of Black Art and Design at University of the Arts London. Boyce's research interests explore art as a Social practice (art), social practice and the critical and contextual debates that arise from this area of study. Boyce has been closely collaborating with other artists since 1990 with a focus on collaborative work, frequently involving improvisation and unplanned performative actions on the part of her collaborators. Boyce's work involves a variety of media, such as drawing, Printmaking, print, photography, video, and sound. Her art explores "the relationship between sound and memory, the dynamics of space, and incorporating the spectator". Boyce has taught Fine Art studio practice in several art colleges across the UK. In March 2016, Boyce was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in London, becoming the firs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Five Black Women
''Five Black Women'' was an exhibition at the Africa Centre, London, featuring the work of British artists Sonia Boyce, Lubaina Himid, Claudette Johnson, Houria Niati and Veronica Ryan Veronica Maudlyn Ryan (born 1956 in Plymouth, Montserrat) is a Montserrat-born British sculptor. She moved to London with her parents when she was an infant and now lives between New York and Bristol. In December 2022, Ryan won the Turner Priz ... held in 1983. The exhibition was organised by Himid, the first of several "widely respected" exhibitions she organised featuring Black women artists. References Further reading * Biswas, Sutapa; et al. (2011)"Thin Black Line(s)"(PDF). Making Histories Visible Project, Centre for Contemporary Art, UCLAN. . Art exhibitions in London 1983 in London Women in London 1983 in art {{UK-art-display-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sound System (DJ)
A sound system is a group of DJs and audio engineers contributing and working together as one, playing and producing music over a large PA system or sound reinforcement system, typically for a dance event or party. Origin The sound system concept originated in the 1950s in Kingston, Jamaica. DJs would load up a truck with a generator, turntables, and huge speakers to set up street parties. The sound system scene is a part of Jamaican cultural history and responsible for the rise of modern Jamaican musical styles such as ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub. When Jamaicans emigrated to the United Kingdom, the sound system culture followed and became firmly rooted there in the 1970s. It is still strongly linked with those Jamaican-originated music genres, and some bands or producers still call themselves sound systems, such as Dub Narcotic Sound System and the On-U Sound System. When Asian Dub Foundation are advertised as ''Asian Dub Foundation'', the whole band performs, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soul II Soul
Soul II Soul are a British musical collective formed in London in 1988. They are best known for their two major hits; 1989's UK number five and US number eleven " Keep On Movin'", and its follow-up, the UK number one and US number four " Back to Life". They have won two Grammy Awards, and have been nominated for five Brit Awards—twice for Best British Group. Career 1988–1989: Beginnings and club classics The group initially attracted attention as a sound system some years prior to 1988 run by founder Jazzie B, playing at nights including their own at the Africa Centre, London. By 1988, the official lineup was Jazzie B, Caron Wheeler, Nellie Hooper, Simon Law, Doreen Waddell, Rose Windross, Daddae, Aitch B, and Jazzie Q. They released their first single, "Fairplay", with Rose Windross on lead vocals, recorded at the Africa Centre. where the collective hosted a regular Sunday-night residency. The song charted at number 63 on the UK Singles Chart, while their follow-up ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jazzie B
Trevor Beresford Romeo OBE (born 26 January 1963), better known as Jazzie B, is a British DJ and music producer. He is the founder of music collective Soul II Soul. Life and career Jazzie was born in London UK to parents of Antiguan descent in Hornsey, London, the ninth of 10 children, several of whom began running sound systems in the 1960s and 1970s. At the age of 18, Jazzie was working for cockney pop skiffle musician Tommy Steele, as a tape operator. He had his first gig in 1977 working with friends under the Rastafari name Jah Rico. He changed their working name to Soul II Soul in 1982. Soul II Soul was originally an umbrella name for several of his projects - the sound system, a clothing line and Camden record shop, a record imprint, as well as the group itself. From 1985 to 1989, Jazzie and Soul II Soul would hold what would be regarded as a legendary night at the Africa Centre in Covent Garden. The Soul II Soul track "Fairplay" was recorded there just before the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salif Keita
Salif Keïta () (born 25 August 1949) is a Malian singer-songwriter, referred to as the "Golden Voice of Africa". He is a member of the Keita royal family of Mali. Early life Salif Keita was born a traditional prince in the village of Djoliba. He was born to the Keita royal family, who trace their lineage to Sundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire. He was cast out by his family and ostracized by the community because of his albinism, a sign of bad luck in Mandinka culture. Raised in a Muslim family, he went to an Islamic school where he was influenced by his Qur'an teacher's singing. He decided to pursue music in his teenage years, further distancing him from his family as that was against occupational prohibitions of his noble status. In 1967, he left Djoliba for Bamako, where he joined the government-sponsored Super Rail Band de Bamako. In 1973, Keita joined the group ''Les Ambassadeurs (du Motel de Bamako)''. Keita and Les Ambassadeurs fled political unrest in Mali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
