'Picha' is the Swahili word for 'drawing' and a corruption of the English word 'picture'. Picha is also the title of the comics exhibition presenting a colourful image of the richly chequered continent of Africa.
The African comics culture is thriving and diverse
The African comic is doing well. African comic artists are active throughout the continent, comic festivals are being organized and many comic magazines published. Senegal broadcasts a popular television series based on a comic character (Googoorlu), the life of Mandela has been told in comic form in South Africa and they use comics to warn soldiers about the dangers of AIDS in Ethiopia. It is striking that the African comic is a reflection of Africa's (political) reality. Sometimes you have to resort to subterfuge to write about light-hearted things. The successful comics series 'Aya de Yopougon', written by Ivory Coaster Marguerite Abouet, is a soap in drawings, with love, arguments and adultery taking the centre stage. Yet this comic is set in the tranquil Seventies of the last century, when civil war in Ivory Coast was still very far away.
In Africa, comics can be produced at very low cost. You do not need to have an academic degree to make comics, and comics communicate at a very accessible level. These three factors make this medium very suitable for a continent with a limited artistic infrastructure. However, there is a problem: comics have to be distributed if they are to be read and there are often no channels for this. Moreover, even very inexpensive comics often prove to be too expensive for poor African readers.
Unique retrospective and database
Picha is a twofold project. The exhibition presents the work of 18 comic artists and 1 scenario writer, people from all over the continent. It shows us their original drawings, comic books and the comics published in newspapers and magazines. In addition, a database has been set up which contains detailed information about comic artists and cartoonists from 55 African countries. The database is unfortunately only available in Dutch...
Picha on a world tour: Lagos, Mallorca, Sao Paolo, Goes (the Netherlands)
Picha started at the Afrika Museum in the Netherlands (Apr - Aug 2008). From 9 Nov to 20 Dec 2008 the exhibition could be visited at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Lagos. In 2009 it will be exposed in Palma, Mallorca (May - june 09), at the Museu Afro Brasil de Sao Paolo (Oct-Nov 2009) and in Goes in the Netherlands (Dec 2009). Picha is an initiative of NCDO, a Dutch organization promoting awareness of international cooperation. In Lagos the exposition is made possible by the Prince Claus Fund.
CREDITS
Picha is an initiative of NCDO, a Dutch organization promoting awareness of international cooperation. In the Netherlands NCDO has been working closely together with the Afrika Museum. In Lagos the exposition is made possible by the Prince Claus Fund.
The exhibition was realized by:
Joost Pollmann (exhibition and database set-up)
Alain Brézault (database French-speaking African countries)
Joyce Scheeren (database, research comics magazines/ educational comics)
Marissa Evers (database assistance)
Ars Longa Tentoonstellingen (exhibition design and construction)
GreenLight Solutions (website and database design)
NCDO and the Afrika Museum would like to thank:
Paul Faber (Tropenmuseum), Dominique Lap (Fuzzyshots), Gemma Groen (Uitgeverij Luitingh-Sijthoff), Esther Gasseling (Uitgeverij XTRA), Thomas Gesthuizen (Stichting African Hiphop Foundation), Geerte Wachter (Prince Claus Fund), Bisi Silva (Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos), Sonia M. Bibe Luyten (curator Museu de Art, Sao Paolo), Christophe Cassiau-Haurie (Centre Culturel Charles Baudelaire, Mauritius), Christophe Ngalle Edimo (l'Afrique Dessinée), Pierre Paquet (Editions Paquet), Mikael Campion (Galaxy 7), Association BD Boom (Gabon), Jean-Marie Milléliri (WHO Gabon) and naturally all the participating illustrators.
