Another Artist

If I were to ask you in which country this photograph was taken, or even to name the continent, I don't think you would be able to do so without taking a lucky guess, a 1-in-6 chance like rolling a die, because this could be of a village in Nicaragua, a hillside town in China, a painter's home in rural Pennsylvania, a cabana on an Australian Beach, or a corner shop in the English countryside, but I doubt that the answer elicited would that of a "Commercial Artist's Shack" in Kumasi, Ghana, which is indeed what the image depicts. Robert Lyons' photograph, from his book Another Africa, neither confronts nor confirms any of the widely held opinions about Africa because it is simply ridiculous that such a picture, if any, could make a statement about an entire continent, and that is what is so refreshingly fantastic about this image. Yes, the "shack" as Lyons titles it, leads one to assume that this artist is poor, but that is a statement about artists not Africa. Throughout history and the world today, artists have lived a simplistic way of life and continue to do so. In another culturally and ethnically diverse place, New Orleans, I have seen an artist, a rapper, record in a studio (insert: empty, unfurnished house in the 9th ward) for days on end in the insatiable quest for artistic recognition and maybe even some money for dinner. Not so different, I would imagine, from the artist here who paints portraits and logos for commercial consumption, using the same essential marketing strategies that the rapper does. To market his talent, this artist has chosen to paint a quite realistic portrait of classic icon recognized all over the world, James Bond, and by displaying it on his storefront, has chosen to allow passersby to consume his art for free. The rapper aforementioned, named Bruce Dillon, recently covered "What's My Name" by Rihanna, and released it on Youtube; he used an icon that everyone knows, added his own talent to it, then gave it to the public for free so that they might consider purchasing some of his art at a later date, sound familiar? To establish his ethos, this painter has chosen to inscribe two verses from the King James version of the Bible, so that his potential patrons will know that he is a man of God, similar to how the rapper says he is a man of God on his Facebook page. Across varying times, nations and people, many things are done differently, but what Robert Lyons has done with this image is show that this is not "Another Africa", it's just another artist.

Animals & Attraction...Culture?

Philip Briggs’s 1998 tour pamphlet, “Guide to Ghana”, promises to depict “responsible travel with an emphasis on the culture and natural history of the region”. Briggs’s first mistake was putting a picture of a mona monkey on the guide’s cover. While mona monkeys do originate from West Africa, this does not solely constitute (if at all) Ghana’s culture and natural history.
Briggs goes further to state that Ghana has no “drop-dead” or “must see” big name attractions. He credits Zimbabwe for having Victoria Falls, Tanzania for Kilimanjaro, and South Africa’s Cape Town. This is all exotic-sizing Africa. When one is looking to immerse him or herself in other cultures, visiting attractions may not always be the best option. What happened to interacting with actual people? Instead, Briggs suggests watching mona monkeys play or trekking through “lush jungles” or swimming in gorgeous waterfalls to fully feel like you are in tune with the region. Briggs ultimately describes Ghana as a place that can be enjoyed but would be more enjoyable if there was a place one just had to visit in order to truly understand the culture.
We forget that in order to truly experience a different culture we must delve into the language, food, style of dress, traditions and customs. Most of us are so afraid to interact with people simply because we do not challenge ourselves to know things beyond our “norm” or what we grew up understanding. Truly understanding people from a different culture takes so much effort and willingness to learn, that we tend to shy away from it. Instead, we focus on easier regional aspects like landscape and animals. If we, like Briggs, continue to only focus on these so called “memorable highlights” how will we ever really experience different cultures?

Lingering lack of proper word choice

Some would like to think the way we think of Africa has evolved, but this travel guide for Ghana, published in 1998 then amended a mere decade ago, proves that to be incorrect. As a society we constantly use words with ulterior meaning to describe Africa and our experiences there, whether it is subconscious or not. The front page of Guide to Ghana by Phillip Briggs is adorned with an illustration of Campbell's Mona Monkey which, although the species is native to Ghana and other countries in Western and Central Africa, it immediately draws the reader's attention to wild life, not the people or the culture. Ghana begins in the mind of the reader as a zoo-like land rich in exotic animals. The bold, serif style of the title gives a vibe of the primitive, the uncut. Ghana is dubbed an 'Africa for Beginners' in the second sentence of the introduction and called "laid-back." This coincides with the stereotypical "wise" Africa view, that it offers a slower pace of life than the quickness of life in the U.S., but also suggests that other countries in Africa are something other than "laid-back," perhaps dangerous or too wild for the white traveller. Ghana is so varied, the guide boasts, that itself provides a "microcosmic first taste of Africa." Apparently, of the approximately 50 countries of Africa and all their people, cultures, landmarks, and wildlife, all can be found in this single, travel friendly country that prides itself in "catering to independent travellers." One of the more loaded sentences soon follows, as the jungle is described as "lush" and the beaches are "bone-white." Jungles and wildlife are often glorified and put on a pedestal by tourists, but it is bizarre that a text amended only 11 years ago would allow such something as blatant as "bone-white" slip through the cracks. Cannibalism was a commonly used stereotype that helped colonial imperialists categorize Africans as barbarians, furthering their case that they were lesser a people and acceptable to enslave. Later on in the introduction, there is talk of national reserves that go months on end without visitors, giving the traveller the sense that Ghana is still untouched, but they will be safe. Words like "adventurous" and "trailblazing" plague the pages, as if tourists reading the guide are making the first voyage ever to this strange and different land. All while letting them breathe a sigh of relief because, although it was one of the first African countries to "slide into post-independence chaos," "it never plummeted to the depths reached by, say, Liberia or Rwanda."