Distinguished Identities: Contemporary African Portraiture (review)

DISTINGUISHED IDENTITIES : Contemporary African Portraiture An exhibit ion ent it led Dist inguished Ident it ies: Cont emporary African Port rait ure was held at t he St at e Universit y of New York at St ony Brook. Coinciding wit h Black Hist ory mont h in February 2000, it was held part ly t o celebrat e t hat event . Art hist orian Barbara Frank was t he curat or for t he show, whose broad t heme was African port rait ure. Given t hat t his concept is so vast and varied in approach and execut ion, t he exhibit ion's t heme cleverly belied t he homogenous const ruct s t hat t hese kinds of geographic appellat ions t end t o invit e. For, while all t he art ist s were of Af rican origin, t heir radically diverse works served t o challenge common misconcept ions of a pan-Af rican ident it y, root ed in myst if ying and oft en harmful percept ions of t he Cont inent . If anyt hing, t he art ist s in t he show shared an ident it y root ed in a hist orical dispensat ion of colonialism and dislocat ion. St ill, even t his commonalit y is a t enuous one circumscribed by t he t raj ect ories of race, gender, et hnicit y and geography. What t he viewer is conf ront ed wit h t ime and again in t his exhibit ion is t hat of ident it ies const ruct ed t hat are neit her st at ic nor essent ial. Sout h Af rican art ist Berni Searle emphasizes t his point wit h her Discoloured series. As a Sout h Af rican woman who was classif ied "col our ed" under apart heid because of her mixed ancest ry, Searle is very crit ical of st at ic definit ions of ident it y. Aft er all, it was t he same classif icat ions t hat formed t he mainst ay of apart heid, and Searle expresses t his t hrough various puns on t he color concept . In a previous series ent it led Colour me, Searle exhibit ed phot ographs of her nude body covered wit h spices. These works referred t o t he commodit ies t rade t hat t ook place via t he Cape Dut ch Colony in t he 17t h cent ury and her Malaysian ancest ry, which dat es back t o t he slave t rade of t he same era. Now, as part of her Discoloured series, massive, di gi t ally reproduced phot ographs show her nude body once agai n, but t his t ime f ocusing on t he least oft en exposed par t s—t he small of t he back, t he nape of t he neck, t he sol es of t he f eet —w hi ch she st ains wit h henna. The result ing bluish marks resemble bruises on t he skin, evocat ive of vi ol ence— perhaps domest ic abuse—but t hey are also a play wit h skin t ones and colors: a comment on t he decept ion of surface appearances. Cont rast ing wit h Searle's work, fellow Sout h Af rican St even Cohen addresses t he hist ory of dominat ion and excess by st aging perf ormances in public spaces. Present here in video f orm, t hese out rageous and int rusive perf ormances are about more t han elaborat e drag wit h make-up and plat forms. Cohen conceives of perf ormance as a st rat egy for change, an art ist ic t ool wit h which he aims t o disrupt t he Sout h Af rican public's comf ort zones. "I'd like t o be a cat alyst " says Cohen, "t hat provokes t ransf ormat ion in people's t hinking, t o dislodge t hem from t heir fixed st at e. " Cohen conf ront s t he...