Virtual Exhibit
Opa-locka Community Development Corporation

Africa: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow is an exhibition that presents an intergenerational dialogue between established African artists born on the continent and those living in the diaspora. Drawing from Opa-Locka Community Development Corporation (OLCDC)’s donated collection of 55 contemporary African art pieces, known as the Bill Karg Collection of African Art, the exhibit presets an intergenerational dialogue between established African artists born on the continent and those living in the Diaspora. Drawing on post-colonial themes, these artists explore a range of issues such as national identity, economic disparity, spirituality and migration in various styles and mediums.

The collection might best be seen as a reflection of William R. “Bill” Karg’s travels. With its strongest representation in works by artists living and working in Eastern and Southern nations of the continent (Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and South Africa), and to a lesser—although significant—connection in Sub-Saharan West Africa (Senegal and Ivory Coast). The collection also—and significantly—reflects Bill Karg’s ability to develop and nurture personal relations; every work in the collection was acquired directly from the artist who created it, and was acquired as a result of—or in connection with—memorable dialogues with the artists that enriched Karg’s sensibilities toward the work and led to his opening a gallery in New York City in 1985 for the purpose of its exhibition and sale.

Contemporary African art is commonly understood to be art made by artists in Africa and the African diaspora after 1960, in the post-independence era. What exactly makes this art is “contemporary”, and “African,” however, is widely debated. Although African art has always been contemporary to its producers, the term “contemporary African art” implies a particular kind of art that has conquered—or been absorbed by—the international art scene and art market since the 1980s, when art collectors and curators in Europe and the United States “discovered” art made in Africa by individual artists, and breaking with a colonial-era perception of African art within traditional collective “ethnic” origins of so-called “tribal art.”

Florida Humanities-funded public humanities programming compliment this exhibit and provide a deeper level of historically based analysis and interpretation of the pieces. Please check our Events Calendar for virtual programming to participate.

Virtual Exhibit: https://artinopalocka.org/

Our partner and venue:

Opa-locka Community Development Corporation
490 Opa-locka Blvd.
Opa-locka, FL 33054