CHRIS THURMAN: Eurocentric perceptions of African art still need to be challenged
Exposure to African artists is a crucial part of educating Europeans out of their prejudices
In last week’s column, I gave a rather sunny account of arts and culture partnerships between Europe and the postcolonial Global South. The creative economy in a country such as SA is buoyed by European cultural funding entities — from Germany and France in particular, but also Switzerland, the Netherlands and many more.
It could be argued that such an acquired dependence (a function of the dismal support provided by the SA government) facilitates the exercise of “soft power” on the part of former imperialists. This is a moot point. The funding, institutional support and networking opportunities offered by these programmes promote cultural production in SA and also often enable our artists to find new audiences for their work...
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