the, the the recently, the car hosted it's safety be, you know, of contemporary african art. the origin of african arts stretches far beyond recorded history. the continents oldest known beads crafted from this area shells, or worn as personal ornaments, more than 72000 years. the evidence of the complex paint making dates back a 100000 years. the across africa

was reserves, carvings that tells the story of life thousands of years ago. the yes, for centuries, africa's artist and cultural legacy has been misrepresent. as european explorers reached the west african coast, they encountered sophisticated and traditional sculptures, text dots and ceremonial objects, each with its own distinct social and spiritual importance. but instead of seeing them as high arched, europeans dismissed them, placing them outside the western definition of art colonialism reinforced this distortion. in the 19th century,

african arts was often called primitive western institutions and collectors, reduced its significance to an to pull logical pieces rather than legitimate artistic expression. but by the early 20th century, a shift began art historians such as karl einstein and leo for being use. we just find african art as an aesthetic and intellectual tradition. meanwhile, europe in moderns, like go get progressive and my teeth were inspired by its bold forms and a wrong emotional power. integrating african influences into their own revolutionary style. despite this new found recognition,

african artists largely remains on the margins of the global arts. but as african nations gained independence in the mid 20th century arts began reclaiming their narrative using their work to explore thebes of national identity . post colonial struggles and the economic realities of their content. in this edition of talk to al jazeera, we meet 3 women at the forefront of contemporary applicant, part dynamic, diverse, and increasingly recognized globally as the artist on the content and in the diaspora shaping the new dialogue on history resilience and the future. the because it's the culture. ringback

as contemporary african arts, narrative shifts, setting goals for me, joe has played an important role as art critic and specialist, deeply engaged in west africa's modern arts. she has focused on bridging the gap between african artists and the global markets. but how does the world of perceive african art today is it truly understood and valued on its own terms? let me tell you are a contemporary art specialist. thank you for talking balances the around for inside the gallery, where there were a lot of pieces here of contemporary african art and all of it has been sold. now tell us what's going on, but it seems to be a real kind of driver, real excitement around african contemporary art. there's definitely a driver we can see where was that? that's a, that's a given. in this case, it's

a very unique perspective because um it, it was more like of a story of a collector and an artist. the collector who started collecting because of this ard, is so 30 years ago just had the go for this, the artist called the for the come a ha, who's a very well known artist and, and uh, basically he wanted to celebrate the fact that african people could collect the arts, so that's, that's new for us. that we have something that is obvious that even african corporations can say, we want to buy our artist and support them. and on top of that, there is a historical theme that was also into the 6th edition, was the, to pay tribute to the, to how you've seen to get a. so if it you're, you're saying there were those from west africa that font deliberate. you're absolutely. and those portraits of was like re presented in this galaxy

and the fact that the new president has also um visit with getting out of the account for the 1st time. we see the president really watching and looking at the art really brought those so uh, you know, this uh on know, to buy uh, arts, even more a and you were saying that there is a lot of people collecting or even african corporations or companies that are collecting art is this a business is as it is, but it goes beyond that. i think um, i think the far more proud of who they are. they're more changed to supports their peers to support ours and becca is a celebration city of art. so i think we, there's definitely a trigger that is operating currently and i think people are no longer afraid to

say i loved the side as i just want to buy this piece and have it show it to the family. so on the market, it seems that a contemporary african, our jump from $16000000000.00 a year to $40000000000.00 and you hear me. those are extraordinary numbers. but are these conservative numbers because is all art being sold out there, made public. and is this an informal market? is it, how does it work? how does it operate for the continents? i think we can not rely on western numbers because the westerners have their way of working. of course everything is documented. it's just the way it is. but in africa again, we don't have that gallery, the tier system of gallery collectors, institution that is so well put together. so you will have a large potential of numbers are not visible because it happens beats sometimes in

a small activity or in a home of enough to use uh, oranges or friends of going to see friends of friends and friends. and they just buy and there's no way you can track that. so i think we have to be careful with the numbers that we give out. so maybe there is more maybe 3 times more. who knows? but the good news is we're part of the conversation. what are people attracted to in african contemporary right. what is it that is taking the buyer? we're live. we are a lot kind of freaking art is a live. it's like when you look at the origin, this, this is something that i can speak for myself because, you know, when i write about the artist or an artwork, i photograph it 1st and do something that's going on in african, or it's almost like the mistake of the heritage of secular or military, uh, years of ancestry,

you can detect that. and i think that's what also triggered the castle because of we said he was in front of uh, uh, some mask. uh the easy the thing. but it's not that he looked at it, he was inspired because the liveliness of the artwork just go straight to your bones and all of a sudden magic happened. and i think that's really what makes us very different from every contemporary art in history. i was extremely happy to see that there is one, a african american man whose names dr. logan, who owns an institution called a 10 north. and he owns a lot of space in miami, in what we call a palo. com, which is the city born in the 20s, out of offensive c, f, a billionaire who decided to create the 1001 nights the world with architecture that reminds us of mosque and moorish. and this gentleman has decided to put 7 exemption of the black arts,

fantastic arts that tells me that we need to pay more attention. well, one of the thing exemption into north that i saw at the me a buzz in it was the see the key. who is the book enough? i saw us culture who was one of the most hypothetical to today uh, in the continents and who also delivered to the govern most. and they got denied your host culture in bronze in chance. he did this exemption re present the older master in the european museum. and just that's the, that's the reaction of the people. the collectors that came to me because it was part of the program of outlets and show in miami. were triggered by the fact that to say, oh my god, we never saw a mass there is stolen and re presented in western museum and to print it into bronze body and the masked and pure bronze. usually the master during woods. so

this is another art, is that he's influencing people to consider another form of buying arts, even though the topic is still very crucial, which is restitution a. so i think collectors regardless or pay attention, are they buying would they're suppose to buy in term of numbers? i say no, but this still we still, we should not be in a hurry because things are organically happening and i think that's the best way to preserve the contemporary arts. so in order to avoid, to, to go up and then crush right away. at the end of the day, i will part of the world and suits in conversation the touch, the westerners or the people for major or the people for middle east or in america on the scene. america will so touched by those realities. arts is just magic. what are we warning or not? but i feel like african art as something even more special because all the heritage,

the series messaging goes through the hands of the artist. and you can feel as sometimes in some african arts for artists in the african diaspora. the question of identity is often challenging what their work does not only address the present, but also navigates a painful history. the forced displacement of their ancestors through the transatlantic slave trade. the ayana jackson is an african american photographer and filmmaker who brings this past into sharp focus to her work. mom. in her latest video installation, she called journey of the deep sea dweller. she traces the journey of those taken

from africa. imagining their stories lost beneath the waves, especially those of the women wintered to brood across through her arch. jackson builds a bridge between africa and its diaspora honoring their memory. while moving forward. you know, as the, as the translator slave trade, you know, as a black american, black us, american, there's a, there's a quite a tension around, you know, who we are, and our story and the multiple nationalities that make up our blood. right. and so, and when you're, you know, this kind of feeling of the confident as the home, you know, is also it's helpful. and it's the help of so many generations. but then as you begin to engage with africa, you vincent gaze with the multiplicity of the complexity of the country, of the countries that are here. and so, you know, and sometimes it can feel

a little bit alienating to be in the diaspora because you're kind of outside and inside at the same time. so, and this is like, this equating incredible. and so this is eviction of mom. you want to a water spirit, right? actually, we're actually looking right now as a candidate and a and a work that's based on key on the and candace and let me watch the from angola, the word money want to is use a lot in the francophone countries here, but now, um, but then some who might be familiar with the euro, but nigerian pantheon they might have heard of getting my or, or soon. and the idea is that different bodies of, you know, it's an animal concepts, right? that, that different bodies of words of water have a spirit in do these waters periods exist in, in the united states. yeah. you have a lot of people's belief systems that, that were brought a lot of, oh, across the atlantic with, with the people. and there was

a lot of work that was done to mask it, but beneath the credit and the fist yancey. so we're doing and haiti is an example of that. you know, so they're one of the, the, the resistance of it, like acts of resistance and one of the many as to what to keep that. so for me, this is lance, it is our home, the atlantic is where, because these got these people that came, were not yet, they were still african. they were coming from ships that came from the congo that came from gambia that came from, you know, senegal that came from don us, are we saying that the land take is home for those that do not belong? absolutely, absolutely. in our and our spirits are there a bodies are there are physical, decomposed bodies are part of the floor of the site, part of the, the kelp part of every aspect of it. because so many, i mean,

you have to have 15000000 bodies. right. and then many millions didn't even make it because of being thrown overboard because of fucking ships, etc. so we are part of the eco system of the, of the sea and the end, particularly that routes that, that route of the slave trade. so it's, it is, it's what, it's what binds us there's, there's a migraine crisis here in san diego with a lot of people dying, trying to make it to europe, to spain. and, and so, in this move in, in bringing dismiss inside this museum. when you're trying to tell us the history that and the tradition of respecting was the, in the end to see this is the spiritual selves. you know, there's a universe where we are, we are all connected, 5 watts or the all of humanity is connected by water. we must respect the water that the people that, that are created, the, the, the mythologies or the,

or the gods that, or the spirit that we're talking about. they understood that implicitly. they understood that there is an implicit and is a true connection between our see our water and our bodies. so, you know, to imagine these characters, to imagine our connection in general is what is essential to me. but beyond that, again, i really want us to respect what happens in the middle passage. i want us to remember what happened. and i want us to be able to is to, to keep that, that net via the atlantic ocean between the african experience and the blacks taskbar experience. i want to tie this back into the be and now where we are to the black civilization museum, but also to visit car be, you know, how important is it for you to have this here right here in the car, senegal, just as

a has for you to be able to come to be here. you know, i have friends right now that are at glory island at the slave dungeon there and at all the dungeons, the ones and gone a minute for me. it was, i mean, of the 1st time at some point you stand at a place, it's called the, the door of no return. and that doorbell, no return, is a very small door that they would leave the insulated peoples, shackled out of the dungeon and onto the sleeping vessels and the doors, the gate of no return. just the word, it says you not meant to return to actually come back. not only to have to, to, to have survived centuries of, of the slave trade because we weren't meant as women to build that country and disappear. i don't know what they would do with us, but you know, to actually be able to come back to the confidence. so then come to come to senegal

. and then to exhibit a work like this, from my point of view, as, as, as a, to come home to this it's, i'm not going to cry on your screen. but it's but it's a, it's, it's a serious, long minutes for my, for me, individually and culturally to, to, to be here at all on this plan. but also to have the opportunity to be in conversation with senegalese artist artists from all over the world. the, at the center of this artistic dialogue is the, the car be, you know, one of africa's most significant cultural and artistic events. more than just an exhibition. it is a platform for exchange where artist, from the continent and beyond converge to redefine the global art landscape

solely months. a job is a senegalese to reader, and under her vision the be now highlights how art can serve as both an anchor to the past and a guide to the future. it's a good time throughout cnn, so it's really about uh, welcoming. this is a good time for a creative and invite them to express themselves to theme the wake of sorry, much came from the work. can you explain what the weight is for you and what you're trying to evoke? the way it is about us, about waking up in the well, that's in the crisis, environmental social and festival. and it came from me from thoughts from the convicts. crisis came from my reading of the book in the wake by doctor increasing the shop. it's about waking up,

it's about the wake of, of the boat up to it. it just references the slave trader, it references colonial history. and it's also cool to these road. yes, for us, from everywhere in the wells. and we have here all to is from mexico, from antenna from columbia, from the us. what are you trying to evoke in this call in the artist that you have chosen? i'm trying to call everyone to just to accept that we need the transformation. we need to make a change, we need to change our direction and the weight will also follow that change of direction. i think out will take you to think about what's happening to all well in another way,

then the scientific article will it will actually allow you to, to feel to know how it makes you feel actually makes you feel and to come back to this stuff. so transformation that is necessary before any other transformation. it's interesting that you talk about transformation because as i've understood in this building, you've transformed it. right? you the cluttered this colonial building. what were you trying to do? i was afraid that so, so i think as a crate to this building is a monster. it's like domino. so it's a huge monster. elaborate as i went into this world with it at 1st, but it became more about actually how to understand it. how to give it also the respects, for instance, in this subject that value i when,

when is it called sensitive? i paddled so so. so the room of last steps. yes, that's really cool. yeah. so if this was a room where, what would happen then people would just wait, i guess, or i think they were waiting for the trials. it's incredible that you're taking over this colonial building. right and making it your own this sense of ownership. you feel that there's the same sense among young africans at this moment to try to re appropriate something and what is that? something that they're trying to it will take time. it will take time. it will take lots of validation and lots of work because the colonial time was so long as well. and you don't so snap and say you independence site.

and we know that we still very much a confronted to a structure that is very colonial still. i think for instance, who in sent again that is indeed the movement that is ongoing. and i, i hope that this do not because this theme actually give a, a accurate reflection of what's happening for these alters but also for these sites . is these countries that come from, obviously some people would go to contemporary arts gallery or museum. you would think it would be not so much people off the streets, but maybe, you know, highbrows, intellectuals and, and, and the verge was the how did you insure, or are you trying to ensure that anyone can have access to it and how it is a difficult task also because of the space and,

and this building and this facade and so infinity, they think it has been built in all the to be intimidating. and i don't think the architects, this friend shop to architects and the fifty's wanted to this to be a welcoming space where anyone feels they can walk in and be welcome. so the best thing we've done is as great as we decided to show a welcome to facades, selection rate that's willing to actually make the explode out of the space and we didn't pick any work we fix the deal to. so do you not, you know, you, this from hygiene. we've actually in homework, referencing height is depth, has heightened history and who's what we,

we students who actually made the collective box, the person works indian and who's also referencing that. the fact that the colonial building institute agent building and the fact that the rooms at the feet of her works. i spent a lot of time working on my vision to transform the status. and to actually show case these up to you and you versus to really give them the understanding status of there's so much vulnerability it seems in, in a lot of the art that we're seeing if you have any message to give to such as people who are friends for caribbean descent or african, anybody who has this sense of not belonging, right? if this is something that you're, you're kind of tapping into what message would you have to those that are trying to

find a place to express their art being and not this is already belonging to a very special family. well, sometimes people will quickly say that the there is less rationality owed that things of this bill easy to understand that well actually i think the people of the most reasonable and the most sense civil because true to senses. and so in motion, they're always just more precise, more impactful, and in the truth, in some way deliberate in their yes and their approach. so this do then, um, it's, uh, it's not enough. we can do that. it's not even a pen african view, then it says international being at the,

from the car to the diaspora around the world past to present an into imagined future's contemporary. african art continues to evolve challenging perceptions, reclaiming narrative, and shaping your identities. the they may not be the top of the titles. they might not have the biggest stages, but they stand as tightens in the face of the freshest fall. right. to move that you want to show the world that the good guys can sometimes when they are the force behind jimmy, said polly, so nobody to find to make foot on

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the . ready ready the hello, i'm sammy's a them this has been use our live from del, coming up in the next 60 minutes. presence that landscape hits backet donald trump's claim ukraine started the wall saying he lives in a. this information space created by russia says it's willing to release all remaining is right. the captives in one go is it outlines or the 2nd phase of the gaza sees 5 mice looks.