Contemporary African Recycled Art

I've been researching the waste art and a vast context to this art form when I came across this article about modern African art of waste.

The article reviews some of the critical issues of this art form as it defines it as dominating type of artistic medium in contemporary African art which "is rapidly gaining prominence and international acclaim." It discusses the main factors which have played their role in the vast popularity of the Found object art across the continent.

"From an African trajectory, not just the beauty in waste is considered but the circumstances creating these waste (globalisation, modernity and consumption) forms the ideological/conceptual framework for waste transformation into new art conventions."

The strongest influence on the contemporary Art, not only in Africa, comes from globalisation and the modern people's perceptions about the world which is also supported by the new technology development.

 "...through 21st century advances in technology and innovations the world is becoming a global
village, it conversely leads to increased consumption and accompanying generation of varieties of waste."

The modern view of the artist makes him see the items of this waste as a source of artisism. (Kart 2009) Development of the world and the art expands the scope of the artist making him to see more objects as a potential tools to express his creativity. While amplifying their scope of inspiration, African artists add more unconventional materials. On the other hand, art pieces which are made of untypical materials could also refer to a contemporary form of expressionism in which the the used object are considered as the metaphor which illustrates the idea behind the piece. The waste in the artworks could be seen as a representation of modern issues across the continent.

References:
Akpang, C. E. (2013) Found Object, Recycled Art, Readymade of Junk Art?Ambiguity in Modern Acrican Art. [online] Available at: http://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/ADS/article/view/7568 [Accessed 20/08/2014]