Deutsche Welle has been amassing a gallery of works of art for decades. In recent years, contemporary works from Africa have been added to that collection.
Some of the pieces are part of a collection preview entitled "Past's Tomorrow/Future" Today's at DW's broadcast offices in Bonn, exhibited as part of the 2022 Global Media Forum. The collection preview features works by five current West African artists. DW's collection of art has grown to include modern pieces from Africa as recently as 2016.
The artists think on a worldwide scale. Soly Cisse lives in both his hometown of Dakar and the French capital of Paris, where he studied fine art. Serigne Mbaye Camara, a Senegalese and French art alum who now teaches in Dakar, is widely regarded as one of the country's foremost artists and art educators. Another photographer featured in the preview is Akinbode Akinbiyi, who was raised in England and Lagos before attending college in Ibadan, Nigeria, Lancaster, United Kingdom, and Heidelberg, Germany.
There is a long history of cultural interchange between Africa and Europe; for example, art festivals were held in Lagos and Algiers in the 1960s, showcasing the work of current African artists both in Africa and abroad.
During those earlier decades, that would have been highly exceptional. Stercken hopes to bring attention to the global connections that have been developing since the 1960s and '50s.
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