Ex Africa semper aliquid novi.
Gaius Plinius Secundus
Welcome to African homage.
African Homage was born from the observation that, historically, African arts played a key role in the artistic revolutions of the early XX th century. These upheavals have not only affected the fine arts but were essential in other forms of arts such as music and dance. A century later, it is clear these fundamental contributions have been forgotten. French version: African homage est né du rôle clé joué historiquement par les arts africains dans les révolutions artistiques du début du XXe siècle. Ces bouleversements ont non seulement affecté les beaux-arts, mais ont été essentiels dans d’autres formes d’arts tels que la musique et la danse. Un siècle plus tard, il est clair que ces contributions fondamentales ont été oubliées. Entre tradition et modernité, notre aspiration est de renouveler cet apport d’une énergie essentielle et donc de rendre hommage à l’Afrique. WHY AFRICAN HOMAGE? The African Homage Movement has been initiated by a handful of people, artists of various fields as well as human scientists as a compelling need to research, express and restore the fundamental/ funding contributions of African cultures to the world. HISTORY Bearing in mind the size of the African continent (for the record as big as China, India, the United States and most of Europe put together) speaking of African culture would be just absurd. Along the centuries and since antiquity, contacts and trades were established from the northen part, by various civilisations and, later on, trading posts along the coasts of the African continent. Yet little was/ is known about Africa and more specifically about its miriades of cultures, until the early XXth century. The “discovery” of African Arts, as a matter of fact, started when artists desperately seeking new forms of expressions, were hit by the recently brought over to Europe, of sculptures and masks, commonly regarded as primitive. MODERNITY Although the word may be regarded as quite recent in history, modernity is as old as life itself yet closely related to deviance as opposed to traditions and conservatisme. it is observed by ethologists amongst social animals and, of course, humans. It can be conceived as a set of knowledge and practices that are shared and socially transmitted within a given and not by genetic inheritance group. This behaviour is non only observed amongst mammals, but other forms of lifes such as insects. Altogether various factors intervein in this development: identity (collective and individual), self-esteem and sense of belonging, learning, rituals, sexuality, sciences and technologies, languages, and, arts (for whatever form they might take). All belong to the same word: Culture. Addé
Between tradition and modernity, our aspiration is to renew this relationship of a fundamental energy and therefore pay homage to Africa.
