Originating at a 2016 conference, the edited book "The Art of Emergency: Aesthetics and Aid in African Crisis" edited by Ndaliko and Andreson (2020) is a unique contribution. Admittedly this is not an area I've followed closely. Published by Oxford University Press, the book has a companion artistic website and covers a wide range of artistic expression amidst or related to emergency - the NGO gaze, art as resistance, art as NGO activity and communication, art as healing, art as reconciliation. The editors summarize the book as: "The Art of Emergency confronts the combustive force of creativity erupting in the wake of material crises across the African continent. Art produced in the context of emergency not only directly implicates local politics but moreover provides a map of the often illusive relationships between power and aesthetics. Through ethnographic and historical case studies, the scholars, artists, and activists in this book explore how actors on the ground employ creativity as a currency with which to regulate the forms and forces laid bare by catastrophe" (p. 1).
When you subscribe to the blog, we will send you an e-mail when there are new updates on the site so you wouldn't miss them.