Design Indaba has partnered with Google Arts and Culture to launch ‘Colours of Africa’, an online project that showcases 60 specially curated artworks produced by over 60 African creatives.
Each creative was invited to contribute a work that captures the colour and character of their home country. “Africa is known for its bold, unapologetic use of colour. Each country, city and community is identifiable by its unique palette,” says Design Indaba’s founder Ravi Naidoo.
Naidoo selected the featured creatives from a wide range of disciplines, from architecture, illustration, painting and ceramics to writing, engineering, the performing arts and visual communications.
Their creations have been converted into images, videos, texts and illustrations, showcasing the best of African craft, product, industrial design, fashion, film, animation, graphics, food, music, jewellery and architecture.
“This project tells a story of a continent through a universally accessible lens,” says Naidoo.
The multidisciplinary mix of artists includes Algerian photographer Ramzy Bensaadi, fashion designer Bisrat Negassi from Eritrea, filmmaker Archange Kiyindou “Yamakasi” from the Republic of Congo and visual artist Ngadi Smart from Sierra Leone.
“We’re very excited to break new ground. This is an important artistic catalogue, the first of its kind to plot the expanse of African artistry on Google Arts & Culture. We salute Google for taking this important step to provide the world with a resource like this – not everyone can afford to travel here, or access physical art fairs and museums to view this kind of work,” says Naidoo.
To view ‘Colours of Africa’, visit here.
For more information:
www.designindaba.com
