African Art and Communication (Essay Sample)

African Art and Communication
Student
Institution
Course
Professor
Date
African Art and Communication
Africa is one of the continents in the world that boasts of a very vibrant culture and heritage. One of the ways that the continent showcases its culture is through visual art, which can be found in museums and among African communities. Visual art in the continent includes sculptures, pottery, rock art, facial decorations, and jewelry. African visual art is classified into three parts. The three parts are traditional arts, popular arts, and contemporary arts.
Traditional African Art
Traditional African art has varying characteristics, mostly because different communities make them different and beliefs and meanings for their art. However, some of the most common characteristics are their aesthetic values, their entertainment values, and the ideological or political significance of the pieces of art. For instance, sculptures are common in many African societies. Sometimes the sculptures could be emblems of traditional gods, while in other communities, they are made to honor political figures.
African art is dated back to Namibia in an estimated span of 24-27000 years, but many experts indicate that rock art in Africa could be dated back to 50,000 years ago. Historical evidence indicates that the earliest known form of rock art in Africa was preserved in Niger in 6500 BC (Parker & Reid, 2013). As civilization advanced, Africans graduated from rock art and paintings to better forms of art such as sculptures and jewelry. Some of the materials used in traditional African art are stones, paints, wood, metal, and textiles. Most of the traditional forms of visual arts in Africa have significant meanings to the cultures of African people (Grosz-Ngate & Kokole, 2014). For instance, during initiation ceremonies, Africans paint their bodies with designs to mark the ceremony and the important graduation from childhood to adulthood. Most of the African political leaders are endowed with art objects such as head crowns made of feathers to signify their supremacy in the society.
Popular Arts in African Culture
Other than visual art, Africans also take pride in a wide range of popular art. Popular art includes stories that are passed down generations, songs, and dances, and poems that are sung to tell the world about African culture. African artists use popular art to speak about social and political issues in the country and to open the continent to the rest of the world (Grosz-Ngate & Kokole, 2014). The main characteristic of popular art in the continent is that it is either in verbal or written form. Such materials are shared across the continent and the globe to sensitize people about African culture. Most of these pieces of art are found in social contexts such as ceremonies, educational settings, and interactive sessions with the rest of the world. For instance, May Ayim wrote poems about African culture and how difficult it is for Africans living abroad to blend in other cultures while their identities are stripped off. Such pieces of art and their artists have helped to introduce African culture to the rest of the world.
Contemporary Arts
Contemporary African art is the art that is mostly created by people of African origin living in the diaspora. Many art scenes are happening across the continent, and artists have taken this as a platform to grow their artistic skills. Contemporary African art is not confined to tradition and culture, as seen in popular and traditional African art (Parker & Reid, 2013). Some of the materials and techniques used in contemporary African art are such as wood, milk, rice, pollen, stone, glass, photographs, canvas, and water paints as well as plastics. Most contemporary African artists use their imagination and images of reality to speak about different societal issues in Africa. They also represent the positions of Africans living in the diaspora as well as people with African origins. The artist’s work conveys messages to both African and non-African audience and gives a glimpse into the vibrant African culture and heritage. They also speak of struggles that Africans in the diaspora go through. Such pieces of art are exhibited in art galleries such as the Walt Disney exhibition and the Sokari Douglas Camp.
The Development of Communication and Media in Africa
Traditional African communities had different ways of communicating among themselves. Some of the traditional media of communication included smoke signals, beating of drums, and sending messengers to pass information. However, since the invention of print media, telephones, and other modern forms of communication, the communication industry in the continent has transformed. The transformation has also been spurred by the changing cultures in the continent as people have become more open to modern forms of communication.
Historically, the first newspapers in both African and European history were published in Egypt in 1798, South Africa in 1800, and in Nigeria in 1859. The development was a consequence of was during the industrial revolution when the globe was going through changes that marked the onset of human civilization. The film was introduced in Africa during the decolonization period. However, it was only used to create backgrounds for western films (Parker & Reid, 2013). In the 1960s, when most African countries gained their independence, most French colonies ventured into the film industry. The radio technology was introduced to the African continent in the early 1920s