(c)Zanele Muholi (2007)

In Context: When the Heavens Meet the Earth

Sat 29 April 2017

Downing College

About the Speakers

Robert Devereux is an entrepreneur and a former undergraduate at Downing College (1975, History). He is a passionate supporter of artists in countries across sub-Saharan Africa and of gallerists showing their work. In 2010, he sold a large proportion of his collection of post-war British Art at Sotheby’s to fund the establishment of The African Arts Trust (TAAT). A selection of works from his Sina Jina collection is on display in the Heong Gallery. This collection is named after his home in Lamu, Kenya and means 'the house with no name'.

Tessa Jackson OBE is curatorial advisor for When the Heavens Meet the Earth. Her over 25-years’ experience in the world of curating and arts’ administration, includes stints as the director of the Arnolfini, the Scottish Arts Council and the Artes Mundi Prize. From 2009 to 2015, she was CEO of the Institute of International Visual Arts (INIVA). Over her long career, she has come to know artists and promote contemporary art by artists from several sub-Saharan countries.

Atta Kwami is a painter, printmaker, independent art historian and curator. He trained and taught at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana and the UK. He has work in major collections including the National Museums of Ghana and Kenya; the V&A Museum, London; the National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Newark Museum, USA; The Chazen Museum, University of Wisconsin-Madison; University of Michigan Museum of Art and The British Museum.

Peterson Kamwathi trained in animation in Nairobi before expanding?his practice to the prints, drawings and collages on paper for which he is best known. Like many other artists of Kenyan origin, it was at the Kuona Trust studios (supported by The African Arts Trust) that he began his career. In addition to solo exhibitions in Kenya, the United Kingdom and the United States, Kamwathi has participated in exhibitions, residencies and publications in many countries across Africa, Europe and the Americas.

Nnenna Okore received an undergraduate degree in Fine and Applied Arts at the acclaimed University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Not content to work with paint on canvas, Okore started experimenting with found textiles and materials on canvas before abandoning the canvas backing altogether to create her now iconic free flowing artworks made of the agglomeration of burlap, dye, glue and ceramics. Apart from being?a practicing artist, Okore is also a Professor of Art at North Park University, Chicago, where she teaches sculpture. She was one of the artists on show at We Face Forward, an exhibition of West African art in 2012 that was spread over a number of venues in Manchester.

Cost: Free