ABOVE: detail from three vigango, carved memorial posts made by the Mijikenda people of Kenya. The Christian Science Monitor reports a booming grey-market trade in the sacred objects.

Here’s a number for you: ten years ago, the trade in non-Western cultural property was about $1 billion; it’s now brushing $4.5 billion, according to Interpol. And if you follow the money, it naturally turns out that a fair chunk of that amount is being siphoned off by rakes and scoundrels who are willing to trade under the table, leaping patrimony laws, ethical acquisition policies, and plain good taste in a single bound. The Christian Science Monitor reports today that the trade in vigango, a type of memorial carving made by the Mijikenda people of Kenya, is growing, to the material and spiritual detriment of Africans.

The totems, which are carved wooden posts memorializing the dead, are the Mijikenda’s equivalent of a gravestone. They get snatched by young Kenyan men to sell to Western dealers, who pay them between $300 and $800 in Mombasa; in the west, they are valued at upwards of $5,000. The trouble is, the vigango (it’s a plural word; the singular is kigango) are not classified in international patrimony agreements as antiquities, since most are not that old. So trading them is certainly a crappy thing to do, but not technically illegal. And the Kenyan government doesn’t qualify them as protected cultural property, so the trade continues. You’d think that with all the current talk about patrimony, smuggling, and shady acquisitions at leading cultural institutions (*ahem*, Getty, Met, Princeton), that there would be some reluctance to buy these totems, which have deep spiritual significance for the people who make them. But the trade is growing.

LINK: Christian Science Monitor > Theft of sacred vigango angers Kenyan villagers

ABOVE: details from portraits of Angolan refugees by South African photographer Guy Tillim. Mr Tillim’s work is part of “Africa Remix,” a show on at the Pompidou Centre right now about the emerging contemporary art scene in Africa.

Hey, how ’bout that Live 8? It turned out to be pretty much the square root of dick-all as far as helping Africa was concerned. And now, mere weeks after the 23 hours of terrible music and sanctimonious rock-star ass-kissing that made up the Live 8 experience, the whole thing has vanished off the cultural and political radar as quickly as it came, leaving the wheezing masses of Africa, once again, to their own wretched devices. It’s the same old song. The Christian Science Monitor, however, has found a wee glint of a silver lining, in an article in today’s issue reviewing Africa Remix: L’art contemporain d’un continent (”Contemporary Art of the Continent” for you francophobics), which is showing right now at the Centre Pompidou (”Pompidou Centre”) in Paris (”Paris”).

No tribal masks or mahogany giraffe candleholders here. Naturally, the market for contemporary art is—to put it charitably—underdeveloped in Africa; most of the artists in the show do the bulk of their business in Europe, although they continue to draw inspiration from their native lands. Their work includes all the mod cons, including video, installation, photography, and so on. There’s not much good news from Africa these days, but don’t worry: there’s no shortage of carved tribal masks.

LINK: The Christian Science Monitor > Eye on African Art

[Editor’s note: This is our 100th post—how time flies. To celebrate, have a beer on us*.]
[*buy the beer, and send us the receipt**.]
[**receipts will not be reimbursed.]

ABOVE: detail of The Tree of Life, built out of decommissioned guns after the Mozambican civil war by Cristovao Canhavato (usually known as Kester), Hilario Nhatugueja, Fiel dos Santos and Adelino Serafim Maté. It is part of the British Museum’s current “Views from Africa” show.

Today The Guardian is running a sort of meta-review of the British Museum’s “Views from Africa” show, written by the museum’s director, Neil MacGregor. He doesn’t spend much time talking about the art itself, but instead waxes on the curious, tortured relationship of England and Africa, the current devastation of parts of the continent, and the role of religion in rebuilding—in some cases building, period—African civil society.

Forming a sort of centrepiece of the show is The Tree of Life, a sculpture made out of thousands of guns left over from the civil war that ravaged Mozambique from 1976 to 1992. It’s a bit of a tired metaphor—swords into plowshares, yadda-yadda—but no less impressive and effective for it. Close up, it’s quite a piece of craftsmanship, as you can see in the museum’s online gallery. The different chunks of the exhibit are on view through most of the summer, and admission is free.

LINK: Guardian Unlimited > Art of Africa

ABOVE: an arial shot of Robben Island, off the coast of South Africa, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. Mandela has succeeded in winning a preliminary injunction against his former lawyer, Ismail Ayob, from selling any more prints under Mandela’s name.

Look around: if you don’t see any works of art signed by Nelson Mandela, you really don’t need to read on. It’s just that the former South African president’s signature has turned up in some places it wasn’t supposed to, including, allegedly, prints of artworks sold by former Mandela lawyer Ismail Ayob. Now, a high court in Johannesburg has granted an injunction on Ayob selling further artworks bearing Mandela’s name.

In 2002, Mandela went back to Robben Island, where he had been imprisoned for nearly 20 years; while there, he drew 21 sketches of the island. Later, the original sketches, and hundreds of lithographic prints, were auctioned off to raise funds for the Mandela HIV/AIDS charities. Mandela now alleges that Ayob was selling more prints bearing forged signatures. Ayob was fired, everything went rather messily public, and has ended up here, with the first round in what are sure to be a lengthy series of legal wrangling. So if anyone tries to sell you a signed Mandela print out of a briefcase on the street, just keep walking, friend.

LINK: The Scotsman > Mandela wins first round in battle over prison art

PS - missed a day yesterday. We’ll make it up to you with a second post today. Check back around 1 PM. ~ADD