- For Colours of Africa, each artist involved was invited to put forward their interpretation of colour, what colour means to them, how colour is important, or representative of their country of origin.
- They were challenged to capture the unique spirit of their home in a particular shade and articulate what being African means to their identity and worldview.
Google Arts and Culture has commissioned a project conceived by Design Indaba called Colours of Africa.
The project features 60 individual artists from over 50 African countries.
Colours of Africa are a singularity; a broad, living e-catalogue of talent and triumph.
At this stage, the project is intentionally an online-only manifestation that invites eager exploration that can be accessed via the Google Arts and Culture portal.
As the first art project of this scale, spanning the work of leading creative minds from almost every African country, its focus is not on quantity but on the extraordinary quality of the continent’s contemporary output.
For Colours of Africa, each artist involved was invited to put forward their interpretation of colour, what colour means to them, how colour is important, or representative of their country of origin.
They were challenged to capture the unique spirit of their home in a particular shade and articulate what being African means to their identity and worldview.
Design Indaba Founder Ravi Naidoo said that this is an important first-of-its-kind artistic catalogue to plot the expanse of African artistry on Google Arts and Culture.
“Nothing like this has existed to date, so we’re very excited to break new ground,” Naidoo said.
He congratulated Google for taking this important step to provide the world with a resource like this one.
“Not everyone can afford to travel here, or access physical art fairs and museums to view this kind of work.”
Africa has long been a source of artistic inspiration for the Global North.
The celebrated cubist Pablo Picasso and famed fashion designers Yves Saint Laurent, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Comme des Garcons among others have drawn on the vibrancy of this continent with its 55 countries and associated islands.
Africa is known for its bold, unapologetic use of colour, with stories told in pigments, tones, and hues in a kaleidoscope, as diverse as the cultures and peoples of the continent.
According to Google, this project does not, however, reflect on how Africa provides inspiration and influence.
It celebrates resident and diasporic makers, and how their home turf informs their practice.
The project involves creatives from almost every discipline from architecture, illustration, painting, and ceramics through to writing, engineering, performing arts, and visual communications.
Their creations are personal and distinct stories of Africa, put into images, videos, texts, and illustrations.
To help realise the project, Design Indaba collaborated with former Design Indaba conference speaker Noel Pretorius and his creative partner Elin Sjöberg.
Together they created the design concept and interface design for the digital exhibition.
It features a kaleidoscopic navigation tool used to explore the art in a randomised way, giving the visitor a unique experience, and the art an equal opportunity to be seen.
Each user’s path through the digital exhibition creates a unique kaleidoscopic pattern formed by the Colours of Africa.
A non-commercial initiative, Google Arts and Culture feature content from over 2 000 leading museums and archives that have partnered with the Google Cultural Institute to bring the world’s art and culture online for everyone.
“Together, our mission is to preserve and bring the world’s art and culture online so it’s accessible to anyone, anywhere,” Google said.
“We work with cultural institutions and artists around the world.”