UMMA Commissions Meleko Mokgosi: Pan-African Pulp 2019-2021

UMMA Commissions   Meleko
                   Mokgosi:
                   Pan-
                   African
                   Pulp
                   2019–2021

Storytelling is at the heart of Meleko Mokgosi’s            For the project, Modern Art: The Root
artistic practice, which comprises painting,        of African Savages (2012–16), Mokgosi
drawing, text-based pieces, sculpture, and          questions the established narratives of western
installation. With careful consideration of         institutions by analyzing and responding to
narrative styles employed across cultures,          issues of power and cultural bias revealed
Mokgosi investigates political and social issues    in the labels and interpretive texts from the
such as colonialism, history, and identity.         exhibition African Art, New York, and the
His process involves considerable research          Avant-Garde, presented at The Metropolitan
evidenced by the range of diverse references        Museum of Art in New York in 2012.
to scholarly books, music, film, art exhibitions,   Similarly, with Walls of Casbah (2009–14),
oral traditions, politics, and popular culture,     he focused on interpretative labels for the
and he adopts a distinct perspective drawing        exhibition Walls of Algiers: Narratives of
from psychoanalysis, cinema, and theory             the City (Getty Center, Los Angeles, 2009).
(primarily post-colonial).                          While deeply critical, Mokgosi’s questions
        Directing each project’s narrative          and comments are not only poignant and
(he frequently works in multi-layered projects      spot on, they also demonstrate his dry wit
that can span several years and encompass           and sense of humor.
a variety of series and sub-series) Mokgosi’s               Responding to the location and
paintings are deliberately staged in engrossing     context, Mokgosi conceived of a new
installations—he often hangs several canvases       series for his UMMA commission entitled
butted up against each other without any gaps,      Pan-African Pulp. Inspired by the history of
which heightens the cinematic effect—featuring      Pan-African groups in Detroit, Pan-African
vibrant scenes of fictional (and occasionally       Pulp comprises four parts—a vinyl wall
living and/or historical) figures. The paintings    work, a text piece, a painted mural, and
are frequently complemented by sculpture,           reproductions of a manifesto and several
drawings, prints, and text-based works,             vintage posters. The overall project investigates
enriching the narrative with additional cultural    the global development and impact of
references. Two recent projects exemplify his       Pan-Africanism—the international movement
ongoing interests and processes. The sequence       aiming to unite ethnic groups of sub-Saharan
of figurative paintings in Pax Kaffraria            African descent and its links to African
(2010–14), for one, uses Botswana, South            liberation movements. Responding directly
Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe as case studies        to the history, work, impact, and legacies
in a narrative probing topics from colonial         of organizations such as the Black Nation
history, globalization, and trans-nationality,      of Islam, The Republic of New Afrika,
to whiteness, ‘African-ness,’ and post-colonial     Shrine of the Black Madonna (Black
aesthetics. Pax Afrikaner (2008–11), a              Christian Nationalism), Pan-African Congress,
companion project to Pax Kaffraria, delves          and United Negro Improvement Association,
into the notion of nation-state identity.           Mokgosi’s research drove him to reconceptua-
Produced in response to rampant xenophobia          lize a link between Pan-Africanism in the
in southern Africa, the two projects explore        U.S. and on the African continent. And while
(mental and physical) violence towards black        he previously considered the Pan-Africanist
foreigners in southern Africa. A more recent        approach to be limiting and reductive, this
series, Democratic Intuition (2013–19),             endeavor provoked him to reevaluate the
unfolds over eight chapters, and includes           movement and how it was manifested both
paintings and sculptures looking at common,         across the globe and locally in Detroit.
everyday experiences and the roots and                      For one element, Mokgosi turned to
implications of democracy in southern Africa,       popular African photo novels—also called
on an individual and public level. The series       “look books”—from the 1960s and 1970s,
also addresses issues such as art history,          a genre often considered as a precursor
history, gender, labor, protest, power, and         to African cinema. African Film (Drum
literary and visual narrative strategies, such      Publications), for example, follows Lance
as allegory.                                        Spearman, a private eye in the mold of James

Bond, on his crime-fighting adventures.            shares a wall with a selection of posters from
Set in a modern environment, young Africans        Pan-African movements founded in Detroit
could easily relate to the hero and his stories.   and Africa in the 1960s as well as a few
The photo novels—a less expensive alternative      designed by Mokgosi, which demonstrate
to filmmaking—are composed of staged               a shared promotional strategy and visual
shots of action scenes and follow a script         language.
conveyed with speech bubbles (in English),                Drawing on the rich history of mural
combining elements of comic books, films,          painting as a form of expression and its role
and magazines. These commercial photo              in promoting the cause and messages of
novels mostly avoided overt political issues,      liberation movements, Mokgosi’s mural looks
focusing instead on aspects of fantasy             at the complexities of the notion of blackness
and fiction in hip, contemporary language.         and how it’s (mis)understood from European
The Spearman stories never addressed               and non-European perspectives and contexts.
apartheid directly, even though Drum               Painted in the social realist style, the picture
Publications was based in South Africa.            is anchored by an image of a monument to
However, several issues subtly acknowledge         independence, the Zambian Freedom Statue
the political and social context at the time       (1974), a burly man breaking free of the
of their production, with references to the        chains of colonialism. The heroic monument is
diamond trade in South Africa or the Cold          complemented by a cast of characters plucked
War. African Film and others were hugely           from seemingly disparate sources including
popular across the continent, even for those       a pair of wrestlers, a boy holding two dogs
who were unable to read English, because the       by their collars, and two seated men in suits—
pictures steer the narratives. The publications    all under a hopeful sunburst and rainbow.
also provided a platform for a new generation             Finally, stories from Setswana literature,
of African writers and actors. The UMMA            in the Setswana language, reflect the tradition
commission features a massive, 42 1/2-foot         of oral storytelling, another aspect of Pan-
wall of blown-up panels from issue 117             Africanism, in texts displayed around the
of African Film, for which Mokgosi has             ribbon of the balcony. Mokgosi told the tales
replaced the original texts in the speech          to students, who were then filmed retelling
balloons with his own dialogue. Introducing        them in English, in their own words, and those
this relatively obscure piece of African           videos are accessible via a QR code. As in
popular culture to an American audience,           the game of telephone, the stories morph and
and at this scale, emphasizes the broad appeal     evolve with each interpretation.
of detective stories, while illustrating the              Through stories told with images,
universal language of photo novels, comic          objects, and texts Meleko Mokgosi evaluates
books, graphic novels, magazines, and cinema.      history and cultures through narratives
On an adjacent wall an enlarged reproduction       that are both personal and deeply universal.
of the manifesto from the 1969 Pan-African         He challenges established traditions and roles
Cultural Festival in Algiers has been annotated    within these different cultures and from the
with Mokgosi’s notes and edits addressing          distinct perspective of an artist, philosopher,
the rationale and notions of “Africanity,”         scholar, and member of the African diaspora.
African unity, and Pan-Africanism. The ideas       In a climate of increasing division and
put forth in the manifesto were influenced         disparity, the ideas and subjects addressed
by the recent publication of Frantz Fanon’s        here are more relevant than ever.
1961 book, The Wretched of the Earth,
which analyzes the dehumanizing effects            Ali Subotnick
of colonialism. In a similar fashion to his        Guest Curator
critiques of institutional texts for Modern
Art: The Root of African Savages and Walls
of Casbah, here Mokgosi highlights the
complexities of liberation movements and
their respective propaganda. The manifesto

UMMA Commissions invites makers to create site-specific
works inside and outside the Museum’s walls as it seeks
                                                                                           ALL
to bring the practices and concerns of artists in direct
contact with the Museum’s spaces, collections, and public.                                 WELCOME
Lead support is provided by Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch.       Meleko Mokgosi,               FREE
                                                             Pan-African Pulp, 2019.
Additional generous support is provided by the University
                                                             Artwork © Meleko Mokgosi.
of Michigan African Studies Center and the Department        Photography: Jeri Hollister
of Afroamerican and African Studies.                         and Patrick Young