The body is present: ‘Insistent Presence’ celebrates the human form in African art

‘Sisters of Joseph Cluny, Saint-Louis,’ Malick Welli

At first glance, we see two young nuns standing, ramrod-straight, in front of a crumbling convent. But Welli’s photograph invites the viewer to question everything.

“Sisters” is part of “Spiritual Phenomena,” his portrait series pairing figures in front of religious edifices. The series arose from Welli’s fascination with architecture, the human form and the border between religion and the contemporary world. 

Although the places are real, Welli’s photographs are inventions from his imagination. From the models he casts, to the clothes they wear, to the objects they carry, “everything is controlled and completely staged,” he explains. 

“I use symbols, I use costumes,” he adds. “I have all the tools to shape the narrative.” 

The viewer might interpret the slim red book one young woman holds as the famous “Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong” from Communist China, also known as “the little red book.” Or, it could be a different volume, he adds, preferring to leave all interpretation to the beholder. “I usually say that, you know, as an artist, our work is about questioning. We don’t own the response.”

‘Bluer on the other side (The problem with immigration), Oar #4, Oar #8, Oar #12,’ Péju Alatise

Though faceless, each small human figure in this installation is crafted to resemble an individual passenger on a long voyage.

By seating her figures in unique poses on weathered fishing oars, Nigerian artist Péju Alatise “moves us from ordinary use of these objects into a bigger statement about movement from one place to another,” says Nagawa.

“It doesn’t look like they see the end of this journey,” she notes of the passengers. The piece’s title, she adds, complicates the story.  “You realize it’s not what we think of as greener pastures someplace else. It’s possibly a sad arrival. They really are moving on hope.”

For Nagawa, that hope is expressed by the bright, hand-painted fabric hanging from each oar. The swaths are dotted with pointillistic suns, spirals and, in one case, colorful circles that, intentionally or not, resemble the Olympic rings.

‘Namuleme from the Kuchu Mbogo (Buffalo),’ Leilah Babirye

Themes of resistance and reclamation abound in this ceramic sculpture by Leilah Babirye. The ceramicist fled her home nation of Uganda in 2015 when it outlawed homosexuality. She now lives in the United States.

The piece’s title is the name of a person belonging to Uganda’s Mbogo, or Buffalo, clan. The first name, “Namuleme,” tells us this is a woman. But Babirye has added another term, too. “Kuchu” is an affirming word that translates to “gay person” in Babirye’s mother tongue of Luganda.

By adding this term, and by working in clay, a material from the earth itself, “she insists, ‘We belong here,’” says Nagawa. “‘We have always belonged here. Excluding us from the nation-state does not take away the fact that we belong to something that is older than the nation-state.’”

‘Osaan,’ Ranti Bam

A delicate vases so thin it resembles cloth comprises “Osaan” by Ranti Bam, from Nigeria. “Osaan” is derived from the Yoruban word for “orange” — one of the three colors eddying through this vase.

While this piece lacks a literal human form, Nagawa senses humanity’s thematic presence. In the swirling blue and orange of “Osaan,” she sees movement and relationships spanning continents.

“We have ceramic-making in many cultures,” says Nagawa. “And we also have a sad but true history of indigo growing. The indigo plant is native to the West African region, and it was grown here by enslaved labor, on plantations in the Carolinas. So, we have these connections. They are quite tense and quite destructive, but they are connections nonetheless.”

The same cerulean and orange patterns appear in walls and doorways throughout “Insistent Presence.”

“And it comes from this piece,” Nagawa says. “There’s a sense of fragility, but it still holds together.”

The exhibit is sponsored by the Straus Family Foundation, the Charles S. Ackerman Fund, the Carlos Museum Endowment, the Carlos Museum National Leadership Board, the Mellon Teaching and Training Endowment and the Carlos Museum Permanent Collection Conservation Fund.