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Adelaide Damoah in Conversation with Tim Okamura
Tim Okamura is a Canadian artist most well known for his beautiful and realistic depictions of African Americans and other minorities in urban landscapes. His stunning and positive depictions of groups of people who have rarely been treated with such dignity in art history are a powerful testament to his views on racial differences and the problems that focusing on these differences can bring to society. Born in 1968, Okamura obtained a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, Canada. He subsequently moved to New York and obtained his Masters in Fine Art from the eponymous School of Visual Arts. His career…
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Adelaide Damoah in Conversation with Adebanji Alade
I was introduced to the the man himself one day in 2009 during an artist meeting. While six artists sat around a table in MacDonald’s, discussing a possible group show, Adebanji Alade shocked us all with a remarkable sketch of one of the artists which he completed while we talked. From that day forward, I have paid close attention to his career and art and have a great respect for his talent and work ethic and his passion for drawing has influenced me in a number of ways. Born in 1972, Adebanji Alade says that his interest in the arts first started at the tender age of six when he…
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Adelaide Damoah in Conversation with Romuald Hazoumè
Born in 1962 in Benin, West Africa, Romuald Hazoumè, is considered one of Africa’s leading visual artists. A winner of the prestigious 2007 Arnold-Bode-Prize at Documenta 12 in Germany, Hazoumè first came to the attention of the wider art world in 1992, when his politically astute works were first exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery’s “Out of Africa” show. Already a full-time artist by then, Hazoumè’s works have since been shown in major museums and galleries all over the world and has works in the collections of the likes of David Bowie and Iman. Hazoumè’s works appear to be humorous and witty commentaries on current political issues in his home…
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Adelaide Damoah in Conversation with Shiri Achu
Beauty, confidence, exuberance, intelligence and tenacity. These are just a few adjectives I would use to describe this talented artist. Born in the Cameroon, West Africa, Achu came to the Uk at the age of nine. An inquisitive and creative child, Achu used found materials to start to make art. Gaining A grades at both GCSE and A level art, Achu decided not to follow the path of art education that her mother wanted for her and went on to study and qualify in architecture. Achu went on to work in the field of architecture until the economy collapsed in 2008 when she was made redundant. Just before that time,…
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‘All the Pieces matter’, Garbagea’s place in the Blue Marble – An Interview with Asher Jay
http://www.garbagea.com/ As 2011 draws to a close, and the final year of the Mayan Calendar approaches (read into that what you will) what will our motto of the year be? What have we gleaned from events such as the Arab Spring; the Japanese Tsunami; The ‘Occupy’ Movements; the Eurozone crisis; riots in London and other UK cities; The Last Harry Potter Movie (shock horror) and an ever deepening economic and ecological crisis? How we interpret these events, and the course of action we choose to take over the coming months and years is crucial. We stand at a crux. Recents events have shown…
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Cetus Cause by Asher Jay
Big Baleen Plea: Weigh our value against our worth Are we worth more dead than alive? You have just begun to uncover our story We deserve a chance, so help us survive We are the behemoths of the big blue, We grow up to 100 feet long We tip the scales over 200 tonnes And our lung capacity is curiously strong. Our size distinguishes us, Our adult heart is the size of a mini car We communicate in low frequencies Our whale song can travel 1000 miles far! We swim beyond your visual scope Into areas that you cannot reach We are not like other baleen whales, We come up…