This book brings together more than 60 of Africa's most creative contemporary artists. Their work leaps off the page with more than 350 colour images. In addition to painters, sculptors and photographers, there are also a number of artists whose work embraces performance and installation.

Angaza Afrika - the Swahili for 'shed light on Africa' - is a statement of this book's mission: to illuminate Africa's immensely fertile artistic landscape. Africa has emerged from its colonial past and is asserting its own identity. African art is not only confined to the continent itself, but has spread throughout the world. From the enforced migrations of the slave trade through the upheavals of the post-colonial period, African art and artists are also now established in Europe, North America, the Carribean and South America.

This book brings together more than 60 of Africa's most creative contemporary artists. Their work leaps off the page with more than 350 colour images. In addition to painters, sculptors and photographers, there are also a number of artists whose work embraces performance and installation. The materials they use range from the traditional to the highly unorthodox, as does their imagery.

This is the first book on contemporary African art to harness the creative energy pulsating from not only the continent but also from the rich global community that has developed outside it.Chris Spring is curator of the Sainsbury African galleries at the British Museum in London. A practising artist himself, he is the author of many books on Africa and its cultural heritage, including African Arms and Armour (I995), African Textile Design (I997), Africa: Arts and Cultures (2000)and Silk in Africa (2002).

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION: ART IS ALL AROUND

THE TENT=MAKERS OF CAIRO

FANTASY COFFINS OF TESHIE

THE TINGATINGA COOPERATIVE SOCIETY

SIGN-PAINTERS

KANGAS

PORTRAIT AND STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY

POTTERS OF DAKHLA AND ZANZIBAR

URBAN TEXTILES OF TUNISIA

BLACKSMITHS AND METALWORKERS

ARTISTS

AKINBODE AKINBIYI

JANE ALEXANDER

EL ANATSUI

CHANT AVEDISSIAN

LARA BALADI

DOMINIC BENHURA

HARIO BENJAMIN

WILLIE BESTER

WIM BOTHA

MOHAMED OMER BUSHARA

FLINTO CHANDIA

MOHAMEDI CHARINDA

JORGE DIAS

DILOHPRIZULIKE

SOKARI DOUGLAS CAMP

SAFAA ERRUAS

SAMUEL FOSSO

ASSEFA GEBREKIDAN

POMPILIO HILiRIO (GEMUCE)

TAPFUMA GUTSA

ROHUALD HAZOUM

JACKSON HLUNGWANI

JAK KATARIKAWE

WILLIAM KENTRIDGE

KESTER, DOS SANTOS, NHATUGUEJA, MATE

DAVID KOLOANE

ABDOULAYE KONATE

RACHID KORAICHI

ATTA KWAMI

NJA MAHDAOUI

MALANGATANA VALENTE NGWENYA

TASLIM MARTIN

JULIE MEHRETU

MANUEL MENDIVE

PETRONA MORRISON

ZWELETHU MTHETHWA

HASSAN MUSA

HWANGIHUTTER

MOATAZ NASR

OWEN NDOU

KAREL NEL

ROBINO NTILA

MAGDALENE ODUNDO

CHRIS OFILI

BRUCE ONOBRAKPEYA

OWUSU-ANKOMAH

EUGENE PALMER

MARTA MARIA PEREZ BRAVO

JOHANNES PHOKELA

TRACEY ROSE

REINATA SADHIMBA

IBRAHIM EL SALAHI

CHRI SAMBA

YINKA SHONIBARE, MBE

JULIEN SINZOGAN

KHALED BEN SLIHANE

BARTHLMY TOGUO

SANE WADU

OUATTARA WATTS

SANDILE ZULU

POSTSCRIPT: NOEL WALLACE

PICTURE CREDITS

NOTES