“First Ride” (2023). Photo by Fabrice Gousset. All images courtesy of the artist and Mariane Ibrahim, shared with permission
“I see painting as a process, the finished work merely resembling the initial sketch and ideas stretching over multiple canvases. I like my figures to influence each other in some form of dialogue,” says Peter Uka.
Based in Cologne, Uka grew up in Nigeria in the late 70s and early 80s, a time of bell bottoms, A-line dresses, platform shoes, and bright, bold prints and colors. This now-retro style emerges regularly in the artist’s portraits, as he conjures scenes of his childhood. “It is always a personal experience of some kind that I am referencing, even if I merge it with elements from my imagination or add references. To me, it’s rather a feeling of familiarity and nostalgia that I am looking for than an exact depiction of the events or people,” he adds.
Working in oil on large, nearly life-sized canvases, Uka paints primarily from memory, an approach that seamlessly blends fact and fiction. He creates multiple pieces simultaneously and constructs a sort of community scaffolding onto which he can place stories and recollections. Although some subjects depict people like his mother, aunts, and siblings, others are amalgamations of several individuals. All exude a distinctive presence. “When painting a figure I am interested in framing their essence, and the relation I have to my subjects, from meaningful memories I share with them to conversations we had that impacted me in some way,” he says.
Uka’s recent solo show Triumph of Being at Mariane Ibrahim in Paris focused on grief and loss, a theme that emerges prominently in “Yesterday.” Recreating a banal scene from his childhood home, the portrait imagines the artist’s late sister, who frequently was scolded for adjusting the television dials as a child, doing the same as an adult, the screen showing color bars. Like many of Uka’s works, the painting collapses past and present and coalesces into a vibrant tapestry of memory and imagination.
Find more from the artist on Instagram.
“Peace Invocation” (2023). Photo by Fabrice Gousset
“Marsha” (2021)
“Beach Life” (2021)
“The Traveler” (2022)
“Yesterday” (2023). Photo Vincent Cheìron
“Blue Jacket” (2021)
“Tall Long John” (2021)
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Working from Memory, Peter Uka Paints Vibrant Portraits of 1970s Nigeria appeared first on Colossal.
The world is changing, and the realm of technology seems to do so faster than others. The evidence lies in the dozens of innovations presented every month, and just when we think there’s no further to go, we are proven wrong by a new invention. However, something remains constant: the importance of the bond between mobile telephony and photography. How often does the purchase of a smartphone hinge on the quality of its camera? Ultimately, what we desire is a device we can rely on not only for calling, messaging, or working but also for capturing our daily lives in a single shot, documenting what happens around us on the streets, the faces we encounter every day. Xiaomi understands this better than others, and since 2022, when it decided to join forces with Leica, it has offered the possibility of having a device capable of turning anyone into a professional photographer.
On February 25th, in Barcelona, Xiaomi reaffirmed its position by introducing the new Xiaomi 14 Series, which includes the two smartphones Xiaomi 14 and 14 Ultra.
We decided to put the Xiaomi 14 and its three cameras to the test, and what better place to do it than Barcelona? The grid of streets in the capital of Catalonia, alternating between wide avenues and narrow alleys, gave us the opportunity to play with zoom and wide-angle lenses to capture all its elements, while long exposure came to our aid in freezing the city’s dynamism in time.
We couldn’t miss out on the contribution Leica has provided. The Leica Vivace style came to our rescue in one of Barcelona’s most chaotic places, La Boqueria. Here, the colors and neon lights of the stalls are as numerous as the scents and smells of the typical products, which are impossible to resist.
We moved to the other side of the city, precisely to the Barcelona Pavilion designed by the German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for the 1929 Universal Exposition, to make the most of the Leica Authentico style. Here, Barcelona’s typical natural light enhances the linear and severe forms of the structure, highlighting the colors of the various marbles used. The Xiaomi managed to capture its beauty, not leaving behind even the reflections of the two water mirrors in the Pavilion.
Finally, we focused the lens of the Xiaomi 14 on the people, the true soul of the city. With many kilometers in our legs and the gallery full of photos, we stopped to make the most of the smartphone technology that integrates cutting-edge AI, allowing us to give the last days of February in Barcelona a clear sky and romantic sunsets.
On February 25th, Xiaomi also unveiled the latest Smart Life products: Xiaomi Pad 6S Pro 12.4, Xiaomi Smart Band 8 Pro, Xiaomi Watch S3, and Xiaomi Watch 2. Discover their entire world on the Xiaomi website!
In a remarkable display of nature’s raw interactions, amateur photographer Jacob Hall captured a rare moment of predation when a stealthy bobcat ambushed a great blue heron. This extraordinary event was photographed in coastal Texas, near the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, showcasing the unpredictable and often unseen aspects of wildlife behavior.
While exploring Canada Ranch with his grandfather, Bobby Hall, and ranch owner Leroy Ezer, Jacob Hall unwittingly became a witness to a dramatic natural event. The photographer snapped what seemed at first to be routine images of a great blue heron in flight. It was only upon later inspection that the reality of the scene became apparent: the first image showed the heron moments before being attacked, and the second captured the ambush by a hidden predator. This sequence offers a vivid illustration of the food chain in action, highlighting the role of predators like the bobcat in maintaining the balance of ecosystems.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service picked up on Hall’s images, using them to educate the public on the complexities of nature. Through a tweet, the USFWS explained the significance of such interactions, emphasizing their importance to ecosystem health. The bobcat, as a mid-level predator, plays a critical role in controlling heron populations, which in turn impacts the populations of smaller fish, frogs, and mammals upon which the herons prey. This incident sheds light on the intricate web of predator-prey relationships that underpin our natural world.
Jacob Hall, reflecting on the experience, remarked on the fortuitous nature of his discovery. The photographer had not initially noticed the bobcat lying in wait, making the capture of such a moment all the more extraordinary. This serendipity underscores the unpredictable beauty of wildlife photography, where moments of drama and beauty often unfold in the blink of an eye. Hall’s experience serves as a reminder of the value of preserving natural habitats, such as the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, where such breathtaking moments of natural history can occur.
As we reflect on Jacob Hall’s unexpected capture, it’s a poignant reminder of the raw and unscripted drama that plays out daily in the natural world. Such moments, though sometimes unsettling, are essential threads in the tapestry of life, illustrating the delicate balance that sustains biodiversity. Hall’s images not only showcase his photographic skill but also serve as a powerful testament to the importance of conservation efforts. By protecting natural habitats, we ensure that future generations can witness and learn from these profound interactions that are crucial to the health of our planet.
‘What’s great about my age,” says Hannah Starkey, “and going through the menopause, is that you leave the male gaze behind. And it’s really liberating. You can’t really sell me anything. And I’m dangerous – because I can tell you the truth!”
A piercing, perilous honesty and a fully emancipated female gaze are characteristics that rebound in Acts of Resistance: Photography, Feminisms and The Art of Protest, a major show at South London Gallery, organised with the V&A. Crossing continents and generations, this galvanising group show seeks to join up ideas about image-making and dissent, offering a visual manifesto for a fourth wave of feminism.
Belfast-born Starkey, 53, presents a trio of prismatic, large-scale “abstract portraits”. The works belong to a wider series commissioned to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement last year. The photographs pay homage to a generation of dovish activists, women who were instrumental in Northern Ireland’s peace process. The three portraits feature Anne Carr, who was part of the Good Friday agreement team; Women’s Coalition co-founder Bronagh Hinds; and activist, actor and playwright Margaretta Ruth D’Arcy – who ran a women’s pirate radio station from her kitchen in Galway in the 1980s and was jailed in 1981 for painting protest graffiti.
Starkey grew up in Belfast during the 30-year Troubles. “I saw the power of women and their bravery in speaking out,” she says, speaking from her studio in east London. “Women had the ability to cut through the shit. I wanted to remind the young generation of how powerful women can be, with an example of what women have achieved in my own country.” It couldn’t feel more topical: Starkey mentions research showing that, when women are involved in peace negotiations, they are more likely to be successful and to endure.
The portraits were made using simple props and coloured glass. “I didn’t want to traumatise anyone with a camera,” Starkey explains. After close to three decades exclusively photographing women, she’s aware of how critical women can be of their own image. The photographs were staged to make the women visible without subjecting them to scrutiny. They are also, deliberately, not the bombastic representations we’re used to seeing in galleries and museums. “A good image speaks to everyone,” muses Starkey, whose portraits carry a sense of collective power. “It’s about what women can achieve when they get together.”
This sentiment courses through the exhibition. There are groundbreaking artist activists – the likes of Nan Goldin, Guerilla Girls, and Zanele Muholi, known for their advocacy of marginalised communities – alongside younger practitioners, such as Laia Abril, whose work is the outcome of intensive research and interviews with women who have survived abuse and abortions; and Poulomi Basu, who collaborates with women living in rural communities in India.
Among the younger artists in the show is Sethembile Msezane, who takes the idea of collaboration a step further, with live performance works. A photograph by Msezane, called Chapungu: The Day Rhodes Fell, is a celebration of the day a statue of Cecil Rhodes was removed from the University of Cape Town. This is staged at the show, providing a dramatic entry point to the exhibition. In the work, a masked female figure dressed in a black leotard, with her extended arms adorned with elaborate wings, stands in a majestic pose on a plinth, rising from a crowd who lift their phones in the air to capture the moment, while in the background, a statue is lifted by a crane.
This thrilling image documents what Msezane calls an “embodiment” – a live work that took place during the removal of the statue of the former prime minister of the Cape Colony, after months of protests in 2015. Msezane, who appears in the work, embodied a Zimbabwean bird, Chapungu, which she says came to her in a recurring dream.
“The negotiation between myself and the bird in my body was really hard to do,” the artist recalls, speaking by phone from Cape Town. “I was very scared – I wasn’t sure what I was doing or why I was there, or why I felt such a pressing need to do this work. But I knew it was the bird working through me, and I didn’t need to have all the answers. As I stepped on the plinth, my consciousness shifted away – the person in that image is not me.”
The gruelling piece lasted just under four hours. “Coming off the plinth,” she says, “I felt very tired, very thirsty, and I was shaking.” In a second image, So Long a Letter, that also appears in Acts of Resistance, Msezane embodies a mother holding a crocheted baby, made of hair. They stand beside the African Renaissance Monument in Dakar – a 171ft bronze statue that sits at the top of a hill overlooking the capital. The statue has sparked controversy since it was installed in 2010. “The big man is holding the woman and their child,” says Msezane. “But the reality in many African countries is that women are the ones who uphold society, who work and nurture. The statue doesn’t symbolise that.”
In the huge sculpture, the baby is pointing towards the west. “Are we saying the future of Africa is in the west?” says Msezane, whose narrative is very different. Her crocheted infant joins hands with the baby in the sculpture so that they instead appear to point to the ground. “The future is right here, in Africa,” she explains. “We’re the ones, as the youth, who have to create a legacy to be proud of.”
Msezane doesn’t call her work feminist: she identifies more with African knowledge systems and new animism, a spiritual practice that posits a connection between animals, plants and people. “I suppose those are the ideologies that feel more robust for me as an African woman practising and living on the continent.” However, she adds: “We don’t live in a vacuum – the issues and concerns of women are similar across the world.”
Acts of Resistance seeks to decolonise feminism and offer a more pluralistic idea of a female-led movement. It also shows photography’s value as a powerful tool of protest – fast and free to distribute, accessible anywhere, and able to reach a global audience no matter what language they speak.
Mari Katayama began taking self-portraits incorporating handsewn objects she would make as a child. She took the photographs in order to share her elaborate creations on Myspace and Mixi. Katayama now finds herself ensconced once more in her small room at home in the countryside in Gunma, Japan. There, she is working on her largest handsewn object to date. “I’m sometimes told that my work is a fantasy world or a stage made up of my own dream stories.” She sighs. “I’m fed up hearing this. Whenever I talk about feminism, I always think, ‘We have it – rights, equality and liberation – for sure.’ But then when I look at my life, I am always disappointed that this is not the case.”
Katayama, who has prosthetic legs, worked as a singer in a jazz bar as a student. One night she was heckled by a customer who shouted: “A woman who doesn’t wear high heels is not a woman.” While high heels have been a polarising symbol for feminists – the tired oppression or empowerment debate – high heels for Katayama were not even a choice. So in 2011, Katayama embarked on a mission to create a pair of high heels she could perform in – and to design the prosthetic joints that would allow her to do so comfortably.
In 2022, her vision was finally realised with the Italian luxury shoe designer Sergio Rossi. Two photographs showcase the custom-made “Mari” shoes. A film, called My Way, was recently shot at another factory – Nabtesco in Japan, where the electronically controlled prosthetic knee joints are designed and made. In the film, we see Katayama strut confidently down dim industrial corridors in her vibrant red, extreme high heels.
Acts of Resistance marks a turning point in the evolution of feminism: an approach that is more inclusive, less western-centric and still has plenty of fire in its belly. Joining up these forces to be reckoned with, the show is a space to observe and highlight the way women continue to be vulnerable and continue to fight. It is an opportunity too, Msezane reflects, “to understand where it’s going wrong, and where could it go right”.
Denver Fashion Week is back with another award show. The DFW Awards highlights some of the best models, designers and photographers who have participated in DFW and we’re asking for your vote.
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This article is part of the Artnet Intelligence Report Year Ahead 2024. Through in-depth analysis of last year’s market performance, the new edition paints a data-driven picture of the art world today, from the latest auction results to the artists and artworks leading the conversation.
The number of women among the 100 top-selling fine artists at auction in 2023—tied with 2022 as the largest proportion we’ve ever recorded.
The average price (in USD) of a fine artwork sold at auction last year, down almost 16 percent from 2022.
The revenue (in USD) from fine art auction sales in China last year. While that figure represents a 13 percent increase over 2022, it is the second lowest total the country has seen in a decade.
The dip in total fine art sales generated by the Big Three auction houses—Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips—year over year.
The number of artists who made their auction debuts at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips last year. Only 2.2 percent of them failed to find a buyer on their debut.
The total (in USD) spent on fine art at auction in 2023—down 12.7 percent year over year.
The sell-through rate for fine art at auction in 2023—higher than in any year in the past 10 years except 2021 and 2022.
The decline in revenue generated by the highest-end artworks at auction. Sales of art valued at more than $10 million dropped by just under $2 billion last year.
The dip in total auction sales of work by ultra-contemporary artists (those born after 1974) between 2022 and 2023.
The revenue (in USD) from online-only sales at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Phillips, Bonhams, and Artnet Auctions last year—down 12 percent from 2022.
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On March 23, the Photographic Society of Northwest Arkansas (PSNWA) will present a unique opportunity for photography enthusiasts and novices alike with a free class focused on eclipse photography. Taking place at Shiloh Meeting Hall in Springdale, the workshop is set to bridge the gap between the celestial wonders of eclipses and the art of photography. At the helm of this educational voyage is Melissa L. Jones, an acclaimed photographer with a rich background spanning over three decades in capturing the ephemeral beauty of the natural world.
Melissa L. Jones, serving as the executive chair of PSNWA, brings to the table an extensive portfolio that includes weather phenomena, fireworks, and architectural marvels. Her proficiency in these areas promises to offer attendees a deep dive into the technicalities and aesthetic considerations of eclipse photography. Jones’ approach is tailored to accommodate a wide range of skill levels, ensuring that every participant, from the curious beginner to the seasoned photographer, leaves with valuable insights into capturing the grandeur of solar and lunar eclipses.
The class is structured to cover the forthcoming April total solar eclipse, providing a timely and practical relevance to the content. Beyond the immediate event, the curriculum is designed to equip attendees with the knowledge to photograph future lunar eclipses, fostering a long-term appreciation and capability for astrophotography. The session promises an engaging mix of theoretical knowledge and practical advice, including camera settings, composition tips, and safety precautions essential for direct solar observation and photography.
Reflecting PSNWA’s commitment to community engagement and education, the eclipse photography class is open to everyone interested in the subject matter. This inclusivity underscores the society’s mission to promote photography as a form of artistic expression and scientific inquiry accessible to a broad audience. Participants are encouraged to bring their cameras and a sense of curiosity to the Shiloh Meeting Hall, where they will join others in a collective exploration of the intersection between the cosmos and the lens.
As the date of the class draws near, anticipation builds for what promises to be a compelling journey through the art and science of photographing the celestial dance of eclipses. Melissa L. Jones, with her wealth of experience and passion for sharing knowledge, stands ready to guide attendees through the nuances of capturing moments that, while fleeting, offer a glimpse into the sublime beauty of our universe. This event not only highlights the wonders above but also the community below, united in their quest for learning and expression through the lens of a camera.
The Disabled Photographers’ Society has a packed stand at this year’s Photography & Video Show full of brilliant secondhand bargains. The charity has been building up donations of unwanted photographic kit for over a year, ready for this giant photographic jumble sale
Offers we saw in previous shows included offers on memory cards, forests of old tripods, stacks of darkroom processing trays, and masses of great camera memorabilia from both the film and digital eras alike.
Furthermore, why not do your bit for this great charity by bringing your own donations to the show? Simply look out any bits of unwanted photo gear you have around the house and bring it with you. You can then drop it off at the Disabled Photographers’ Society’s stand when you arrive, so they can sell it to raise valuable funds.
They will willingly take any old camera or lens that you have lying around, or tucked at the back of the cupboard – as long as it is still in working order. But they will also be just as grateful for old cables, filters, darkroom gear, bags and other photo paraphernalia. The DPS are also interested in taking your unwanted photographic books too!The stand is one of the must-visit features of the show… a fantastic photo bric-a-brac stall that you will love to rummage through to find something interesting to buy!
The stand number is C503 – so bring your bags full of donations when you get to the show.
The Disabled Photographers’ Society has been running for over 50 years. The charity has developed a broad knowledge of various ways to make photography accessible to people with a wide variety of disabilities. Often with a few simple modifications, the experts at the DPS can open up a whole new world of possibilities to those who would otherwise struggle to operate a camera. The Society is run by a team of dedicated volunteers, most of whom are disabled photographers themselves.
The Photography Show runs across four days from Saturday to Tuesday March 16-19 at the NEC in Birmingham. For full details and schedules of talks see the The Photography & Video Show website.
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The Photography & Video Show: everything you need to know
