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Simon Ottenberg, ed. The Nsukka Artists and Nigerian Contemporary Art. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, 2002. 380 pp. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $40.00. Paper.
The identity dilemma of the "African artist"-whether to be defined by artistic product (content, media, or style), ethnicity, birthplace, philosophy, or residence-will probably riot be resolved to everyone's satisfaction. Perhaps it cannot be, given the realities of today's art market and the African diaspora. Nevertheless, this excellent record of an important conference makes a great deal of progress in taking us through some of the problematic aspects of these identity crises. Sometimes one is tempted to return to Wole Soyinka's observation about tigers' proclaiming their "tigeritude," but the issue remains critical, if only because it will not go away. What of London resident Sokari Douglas Camp's wonderful sculptures of kerchiefed London shoppers with their market trolleys? Is she then no longer an African artist? The papers and discussions presented in this weighty volume help us sort out many of these issues. They have their origin in a conference held in 1997 at the National Museum of African Art, in conjunction with the 1997-98 exhibition "The Poetics of Line: Seven Artists of the Nsukka Group." An exhibition catalog, New Traditions from Nigeria: Seven Artists of the Nsukka Group, also by Simon Ottenberg, was published at the time.
With so many authors and issues, this review cannot comment fully on all of them, but I will try to highlight a few key issues. Following Roslyn Walker's tribute to the late Sylvia Willams and Philip Ravenhill, Ottenberg's introduction, "Reflections on a Symposium and an Exhibition," provides a solid overview by tracing the history of the Nsukka School and the background of the exhibition. In the first section of essays,...