Art from the Frontline
‘…the most comprehensive survey of contemporary, as opposed to tribal or ethnic art, from the area ever mounted anywhere.’
Robert Dawson Scott, The Sunday Times
Art from the Frontline was an exhibition of nearly two hundred artworks curated by Emma Wallace, and selected in Southern Africa with Antonia Lovelace, Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum Coordinator. Paintings, drawings, graphics, weaving and sculpture were chosen to represent the rich diversity of contemporary work being produced in the Frontline States. A catalogue, Art from the Frontline, was also published.
The exhibition was shown by the Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum at Kelvingrove, the City Art Gallery in Salford, and the City Centre in Dublin. Arranged thematically, it began with art reflecting the history of political conflict in the region, and continued with the importance of traditional imagery and beliefs in each country’s search for a new, African, identity.
Also shown were the works of other religions, specifically Christianity and Islam. The contrast between the modern and traditional was continued in the final sections, with a division into the themes of urban and rural environment.
During the festival, visiting artists included Marcela Costa, a textile artist from Angola; Alberto Chissano, Mozambique’s top wood sculptor; George Nene, a painter from Zimbabwe; and Kavanga Waprila Abdramam, a Tingatinga painter from Tanzania.
