Public art in Africa

To mark Wikimania 2019 the ASCL Library has compiled this web dossier on Public art in Africa. The dossier includes titles from the ASCL Library collection, extended with sources available through the broader Leiden University Library collection. Titles link to the corresponding record in the online catalogue, and include subject headings, abstracts, and links to full text, where available. The dossier is introduced by ASCL PhD student Tycho van der Hoog and concludes with a selection of links to relevant websites.

Wikimedia and public art
There are a number of initiatives within the Wikimedia community that contribute to the documentation of public art worldwide, such as the Wiki Project Public Art and the annual photo contest Wiki Loves Monuments. The research project Culture and Safety in Africa. Documenting and assessing the impact of cultural events and public art on urban safety updated Wikipedia with a selection of content it produced. All the background documentation of the project is released under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license compatible with Wikipedia and open to reuse. This web dossier contains an interactive Africa map based on information and photographs added to Wikimedia’s knowledge base, Wikidata. The ASCL uploaded part of the bibliographic information of this web dossier to Wikidata in order to contribute to the general knowledge of African public art.

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Introduction : Public art in Africa

Public art is interwoven in daily life and thus offers researchers a fascinating window through which to assess the African continent. The African Studies Centre Leiden has a long-standing commitment to African art in general. Our library holds an impressive collection of academic texts on the topic – only a small summary can be found in this web dossier – and also collects African films and literature. The Centre hosts regular exhibitions that showcase African art. And finally, our staff and students research African art in all its variety, sometimes cooperating with African artists. In this web dossier, public art will be put into the limelight.

As places of commemoration, monuments propagate a certain view of the past and are therefore often places of contestation. A recent well-known case in Africa is the Rhodes Must Fall protest movements from 2015, when students from the University of Cape Town campaigned for the removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes. The movement ignited a widespread discussion on the decolonization of education. But also, outside the realm of education monuments such as statues and cemeteries can be contested. In the current post-colonial trajectories of African countries, such places are often politicized as they are a means to redefine identity, interpret history, and chart a path for the future. This makes them a fruitful area of research and it is not surprising that a significant part of this web dossier is dedicated to the issue of monuments.

Another interesting form of public art, as highlighted by the web dossier, is street art. While monuments are part of the public domain, in the sense that they are usually funded by governments, either colonial or independent, street art has a much more independent nature. Graffiti, posters, and stickers, and other forms of street art, are ideal ways to confront – rather than promote – governments. For instance, street art became particularly important in northern Africa during the Arab Spring, when slogans against the prevailing regimes played a pivotal role in the protests for democratization.  

It is paramount to realize that African art is not only found on the African continent. African artistic heritage is scattered across the globe, with large quantities currently being stored in European museums. This last point in particular has been a catalyst for much debate in recent years, with African governments, museums, and intellectuals arguing that this relic of colonialism constitutes a grave injustice. In 2017, the French president Emmanuel Macron vowed to make sure French museums will return African art, sending a shock through the European museum sector. Macron’s promise reignited the debate on global African heritage and incentivized museums across Europe to prepare for the return of foreign objects from their collections. This, in turn, influences public art in Africa. Benin, for example, recently announced the construction of a special museum for 26 art works that are currently in French collections. The museum will open its doors in 2021 and will be established at the location of the royal palaces of the Kingdom of Dahomey.

Tycho van der Hoog

Introduction | Selected titles | Wikidata Map | Selected web resources| Picture gallery

Selected titles

Public art in general | Street art | Monuments

Public art in general

Co-optation as an imaginative act: art-related initiatives and social space in Kampala / Fiona Siegenthaler.
In: Social Dynamics, vol. 44, no. 3, p. 528-546, 2018.

Public art in Africa : theoretical contributions / [Iolanda Pensa ; avec: M. Pucciarelli]. - Canobbio: SUPSI, 2018.

Remembering Marikana: public art intervention and the right to the city in Cape Town / Heike Becker.
In: Social Dynamics, vol. 44, no. 3, p. 555-471, 2018.

A journey through public art in Douala: framing the identity of New Bell neighbourhood / Marta Pucciarelli, Lorenzo Cantoni.
In: Murals and tourism: heritage, policy and identity. - London: Routledge, 2017.

Public art in South Africa : bronze warriors and plastic presidents / edited by Kim Miller and Brenda Schmahmann. - Bloomington, Indiana, USA: Indiana University Press, 2017.

Public art in Africa = Art et tranformation urbaines = Art and urban transformation in Douala / Iolanda Pensa ; avec: M. Pucciarelli. - Genève: Metis, 2016.

The art of public space : curating and re-imagining the ephemeral city / Kim Gurney, University of Cape Town, South Africa. - Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK ; New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

Public art in Kampala : unveiling political confusion / Dominic Muwanguzi. - Cape Town: Asai, 2015.
http://asai.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/TTA-EA-010-Muwanguzi.pdf

Culture and safety in Douala : the cases of New Bell and Bessengue / Marta Pucciarelli.
In: Douala final report. - Canobbio: SUPSI, 2014.
http://repository.supsi.ch/8342/

KLA ART 014, Kampala Contemporary Art Festival : project report / [KLA ART 014 Committee]. - Kampala: [KLA ART 014 Committee], 2014.
https://klaart.org/2014/KLA_ART_014_Project_Report.pdf

Physical and ephemeral devices for urban security: the case of Luanda / Fabio Vanin.
In: Luanda final report. - Canobbio: SUPSI, 2014.
http://www.mobilea2k.supsi.ch/wp-content/uploads/luanda-report.pdf

The power of art: public art and safety in Johannesburg / Caroline Wanjiku Kihato, Andy Spitz.
In: Johannesburg final report / Caroline Wanjiku Kihato, Andy Spitz. - Canobbio: SUPSI, 2014.
https://snis.ch/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2011_Fornari_Report-2.pdf

Democratic Renovations and Affective Political Imaginaries / Rike Sitas and Edgar Pieterse.
In: Third Text, vol. 27, no. 3, p. 327-342, 2013.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09528822.2013.798183

Inner-city safaris and wild public art / Stacey Vorster.
In: Critical arts : a journal of media studies , vol. 27, no. 2, p. 147-162 : photos, 2013.

Quand l’art public (dé)fait la ville ? : la politique d’art public à Johannesburg / Pauline Guinard.
In: EchoGéo 13.13 2010.
https://journals.openedition.org/echogeo/11855

Urban Claims and Visual Sources in the Making of Dakar's Art World City / Joanna Grabski.
In: Art Journal, vol. 68, no. 1, p. 6-23, 2009.

Festivals et biennales d'Afrique : machine ou utopie? / coordonné par Cédric Vincent. - Paris : L'Harmattan, 2008. (Special issue  Africultures 2008/2, no. 73)

The Dak'Art Biennale: Exhibiting Contemporary Art and Geopolitics in Africa / Joanna Grabski.
In: Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, vol. 22, no. 1, p. 104-113, 2008.

Douala in translation: a view of the city and its creative transformative potentials / Lucia Babina, Marilyn Douala Bell. - Rotterdam: Episode Publishers, 2007.

The functions of public art in post-apartheid South Africa / Annette Sophia Pretorius. - University of the Witwatersrand: Johannesburg, 2007.
http://hdl.handle.net/10539/2175

Post-apartheid Public Art in Cape Town: Symbolic Reparations and Public Space / Zayd Minty.
In: Urban Studies, vol. 43, no. 2, 421-440, 2006.

Dakar's urban landscapes: locating modern art and artists in the city / Joanna Grabski.
In: African arts, vol. xxxvi, no. 4, p. 28-39, 2003.

Digging our roots : the Chamare Museum frescoes / by Claude Boucher Chisale ; [compiled by Martin Ott]. - Mtakataka: KuNgoni Art Craft Centre, 2002.

Street art

Commercial graffiti : self-expression, the allure of danger, or graffiti made "pretty"? / Patrick R. Rabiega and Mariekie Burger.
In: Communicatio : South African journal for communication theory and research , vol. 43, no. 1, p. 37-57, 2017.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02500167.2017.1297323

Taking the forbidden space : graffiti and resistance in Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia / Mulumebet Zenebe. - Leiden: Brill, 2017.
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004356368_007

Bamba Merci : the intersections of political and spiritual graffiti in Senegal / Laura L. Cochrane.
In: African identities , vol. 14, no. 1, p. 3-18 : foto's, 2016.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14725843.2015.1100106

Du Set Setal au Festigraff : l’évolution murale de la ville de Dakar / Christine Leduc-Gueye.
In: Cahiers de Narratologie, volume 30, 2016.
https://journals.openedition.org/narratologie/7463

Engaged ephemeral art : street art and the Egyptian Spring / Saphinaz Amal Naguib. - Heidelberg: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität, 2016.
http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-62941
 
'Poof! a'm heppily saving the Lord...' : multimodality and evaluative discourses in male toilet graffiti at the University of the Western Cape / Fiona S. Ferris and Felix Banda.
In: African identities , vol. 13, no. 4, p. 243-261, 2015.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14725843.2015.1087302

"These walls belong to everybody" : the graffiti art movement in Dakar / Leslie W. Rabine. - Gainesville, FL: Center for African Studies, University of Florida, 2014.
https://asq.africa.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/168/Volume-14-Issue-...

Les Murs-murs sur nos murs : quête de citoyenneté et culture urbaine à Dakar (1990-2000) / Ndiouga Benga.
In: Les Arts de la citoyenneté au Sénégal; espaces contestés et civilités urbaines. - Paris: Karthala, pages 357-375.

Street art and the Egyptian Revolution / Lina Khatib. - Barcelona: Instituto Europeo del Mediterraneo (IEMed), 2013.
https://www.iemed.org/publication/street-art-and-the-egyptian-revolution/

Le graffiti : un art contestataire au service des populations / Entretien d'Érika Nimis avec Docta. Africultures (3 octobre 2012). Retrieved from http://africultures.com/le-graffiti-un-art-contestataire-au-service-des-populations-11021/

Transforming symbolic identity: wall art and the South African city / Sabine Marschall.
In: African Arts, vol.41, no 2, pages 12-23, 2008.

Mystical graffiti and the refabulation of Dakar / Allen F. Roberts and Mary Nooter Roberts.
In: Africa today , vol. 54, no. 2, p. 51-77 : foto's, 2007.

Les murs peints de l’Afrique du Sud post-apartheid / Élisabeth Deliry-Antheaume.
In: Sociétés & Représentations, vol.22, no. 2, pages 121-147, 2006.
https://doi.org/10.3917/sr.022.0121

Special issue: Cape Town / guest ed. Susan Parnell and Owen Crankshaw.
In: Urban forum , vol. 15, no. 3, p. 213-308, 2004.

Community mural art in South Africa / Sabine Marschall. - Pretoria: Unisa, 2002.

Monuments

Monuments of power: the North Korean origin of nationalist heritage in Namibia and Zimbabwe / Tycho van der Hoog. - Leiden : African Studies Centre, 2019.
http://hdl.handle.net/1887/75067

Attacks on South African monuments : mediating heritage in post-conflict society / Ntsikelelo B. Breakfast, Gavin Bradshaw, Richard Haines.
In: Africa’s Public Service Delivery & Performance Review, vol.6, no. 1, p .e1-e12, 2018.
https://doi.org/10.4102/apsdpr.v6i1.184

Changing urbanscapes : colonial and postcolonial monuments in Windhoek / Heike Becker.
In: Nordic journal of African studies, volume 27, number 1 (2018), 2018.
https://www.njas.fi/njas/article/view/266/250

L'Afrique ancienne : de l'Acacus au Zimbabwe : 20000 avant notre ère-XVIIe siècle / François-Xavier Fauvelle (dir.) ; Damien Agut [and 23 others]. - Paris: Belin, 2018.

Guide to sieges of South Africa : Anglo-boer wars ; Anglo-Zulu war; Frontier wars; Basuto wars / Nicki von der Heyde. - Cape Town: Struik Travel & Heritage, 2017.

Les lieux de mémoire de la guerre d'indépendance algérienne / Emmanuel Alcaraz ; pref. d'Ai͏̈ssa Kadri. - Paris: Karthala, 2017.

Making heroes, (un)making the nation? : ZANU-PFs imaginations of the Heroes' Acre, heroes and construction of identity in Zimbabwe from 2000 to 2015 / Shepherd Mpofu.
In: African identities , vol. 15, no. 1, p. 62-78, 2017.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14725843.2016.1175920

Mégalithes d'hier et d'aujourd'hui en Éthiopie / Roger Joussaume et Jean-Paul Cros. - Arles: Éditions Errance, 2017.

Monuments and affordance : multisensory bodily engagements with the landscape of memory in South Africa / Sabine Marschall.
In: Cahiers d'études africaines, vol. 3, no. 227, p. 671-690, 2017.

North Korean monuments in Southern Africa: legitimizing party rule through the National Heroes' Acres in Zimbabwe and Namibia / Tycho van der Hoog. - [S.l.: s.n.], 2017.
http://hdl.handle.net/1887/52194

Icons of the old regime : challenging South African public memory strategies in #RhodesMustFall / Carolyn E. Holmes & Melanie Loehwing.
In: Journal of Southern African studies , vol. 42, no. 6, p. 1207-1223, 2016.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2016.1253927

L'art et la manière : approche technologique des céramiques de dépôt dans le mégalithisme sénégambien : le cas de la nécropole de Wanar (Sénégal) / Adrien Delvoye ... [et al.].
In: Journal of African archaeology , vol. 14, no. 2, 115-134 : ill, 2016.

Listing the sacred Mijikenda 'kaya' forests as UNESCO World Heritage Sites : "the long journey" / Anthony Githitho.
In: Journal des africanistes, Tome 86, Fascicule 1, pages 198-217, 2016.

Namibische Erinnerungskulturen am Beispiel des Reiterdenkmals von Windhoek / Matthias Schulze.
In: Journal / Namibia Scientific Society, vol. 64, p. 49-98 : ill, 2016.

South African performance and archives of memory / Yvette Hutchison. - Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016.

A Voortrekker memorial in revolutionary Maputo / David Morton.
In: Journal of Southern African studies , vol. 41, no. 2, p. 335-352 : foto's, 2015.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2015.1012911

Monuments in Kenya / Lydia Muthuma. – Uppsala : Nordic Africa Institute, 2015.
https://youtu.be/anuqn7XEN3U

The Equestrian monument : Reiterdenkmal. - Windhoek: Kuiseb Verlag, 2014.

Le Collège d'enseignement général de Foumban : une mémoire oubliée de la Réunification du Cameroun / Brice Tiemeni Sigankwé.
In: Intel'actuel : revue de lettres et sciences humaines , no. 13, p. 61-88 : foto's, tab, 2014.

The unwelcome dead : denial and destruction of Egypt's ancient antiquities / Andrea P. Jones. - Tulsa, Oklahoma: Yorkshire Publishing, 2014.

Alem Bekagn : the African Union's accidental human rights memorial / Alex de Waal and Rachel Ibreck.
In: African affairs : the journal of the Royal African Society , vol. 112, no. 447, p. 191-215, 2013.

"Bedürfnis zur Beachtung" : Ikonoklasmus, afrikanisches Kulturerbe und Bildökonomie, Frobenius-Vortrag 2012 / Peter Probst.
In: Paideuma : Mitteilungen zur Kulturkunde , Bd. 59, S. 31-49 : foto's, 2013.

Commemorating and forgetting : challenges for the new South Africa / Martin J. Murray. - Minneapolis, MN [etc.]: University of Minnesota Press, 2013.

Creating/curating cultural capital : monuments and museums for post-apartheid South Africa / Elizabeth Rankin.
In: Humanities, vol.2, no. 1, p. 72-98, 2013.
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/2/1/72/pdf

Diaspora, digital media, and death counts : Eritreans and the politics of memorialisation / Victoria Bernal.
In: African studies : a quarterly journal devoted to the study of African administration, cultures and languages , vol. 72, no. 2, p. 246-264, 2013.

Die nasionale vrouemonument : honderjarige Herdenking - verlede - hede - toekoms/ red. Marthinus van Bart. - Pretoria: FAK/Gerard Moerdykhuis, 2013.

Kein Platz an der Sonne : Erinnerungsorte der deutschen Kolonialgeschichte / Jürgen Zimmerer (Hg.) ; mit Beiträgen von Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst [and thirty-four others]. - Frankfurt am Main [etc.]: Campus Verlag, 2013.

The limits of urban heritage tourism in South Africa: the case of Constitution Hill, Johannesburg / Clinton David Van der Merwe.
In: Urban forum , vol. 24, no. 4, p. 573-588 : foto, graf., krt., tab, 2013.

Politics of memory, decentralisation and recentralisation in Mozambique / Victor Igreja.
In: Journal of Southern African studies , vol. 39, no. 2, p. 313-335 : tab, 2013.

Position tome I : sur l'imposture du monument de la renaissance africaine / Papa Cheikh Jimbira Sakho. - Dakar: Éditions 'JP', 2013.

Postcolonial monuments and public sculpture in Zimbabwe / Biggie Samwanda. - Grahamstown: Rhodes University, 2013.
http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1006825

Power, politics and public monuments in Nairobi, Kenya / Laragh Larsen [online article, 18 April 2013].  Retrieved July 18, 2019, from www.opendemocracy.net
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/power-politics-and-public-monuments-in-nairobi-kenya/

Special issue: Monumentality in Africa / guest ed.: Elisabeth Hildebrand and Matthew Davies. - Nairobi: British Institute in Eastern Africa, 2013.

Tombouctou meurtrie : regard sur les stigmates de l'occupation du nord du Mali / Chirfi Moulaye Haïdara. - Bamako: Éditions Jamana, 2013.

Deutsches koloniales Bauerbe in Namibia heute: Rückblick, Ausblick und Forschung / Andreas Vogt.
In: Journal , vol. 60, p. 117-134 : foto's, 2012.

The history of the Hoba Meteorite / by Peter E. Spargo.
In: Journal , vol. 61, p. 107-147 : ill., foto's, 2012.

Memorial politics: challenging the dominant party's narrative in Namibia / Elke Zuern.
In: The journal of modern African studies : a quarterly survey of politics, economics and related topics in contemporary Africa , vol. 50, no. 3, p. 493-518 : foto's, 2012.

Memories of Seychelles' heritage : a collection of articles / by Tony Mathiot. - [S.l.]: National Heritage Research Section, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, 2012.

'Oor monnemente gepraat' : die Campanile in Port Elizabeth / Wessel Stolz en Marius Crous.
In: Tydskrif vir letterkunde : 'n tydskrif vir Afrika-letterkunde , jg. 49, nr. 2, p. 51-59 : ill, 2012.

Waking the dead: civilian casualties in the Namibian liberation struggle / Martha Akawa, Jeremy Silvester.
In: Journal for studies in humanities and social sciences , vol. 1, no. 1, p. 117-128, 2012.

You took the part that once was my heart / [text] Sybren Renema ; [ed.] Timmy van Zoelen. - [S.l.]: The Authors, 2012.

Commemorating heroes in Windhoek and Eenhana: memory, culture and nationalism in Namibia, 1990-2010 / Heike Becker.
In: Africa : journal of the International African Institute , vol. 81, no. 4, p. 519-543 : foto's, 2011.

Espaces de la mémoire du génocide des Tutsis au Rwanda : mémoriaux et lieux de mémoire / Hélène Dumas et Rémi Korman.
In: Afrique contemporaine : documents d'Afrique noire et de Madagascar , no. 238, p. 13-27, 2011.

Fire walker : William Kentridge, Gerhard Marx / ed. by Oliver Barstow & Bronwyn Law-Viljoen. - [Johannesburg]: Fourthwall Books, 2011.

An investigation of Zimbabwe's contemporary heritage practices of memorialising war : a case study of the heroes' acres in Matabeleland South Province / Blessed Magadzike. - Belville: University of Western Cape, 2011.
http://etd.uwc.ac.za/xmlui/handle/11394/5402

Le service des beaux-arts, antiquités et monuments historiques, clef de voûte de la politique patrimoniale française au Maroc sous la résidence de Lyautey (1912-1925) / Mylène Théliol.
In: Outre-mers : revue d'histoire , t. 99, no. 370/371, p. 185-193, 2011.

"Abracadabrazza" ou le roman du Mémorial Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza / Nicolas Martin-Granel.
In: Cahiers d'études africaines , vol. 50, cah. 197, p. 293-307, 2010.

By Nile and Tigris : a narrative of journeys in Egypt and Mesopotamia on behalf of the British Museum between the years 1886 and 1913 / by Sir E.A. Wallis Budge. - Mansfield Centre, CT: Martino Publishing, 2010.

Cahier de la renaissance pour un panafricanisme d'actions : contribution au 3ème Festival mondial des arts nègres (essai) / Salif Ge͏̈y. - Dakar: Éditions Maguilen, 2010.

Colonial bones : the 2006 burial of Savorgnan de Brazza in the Congo / Florence Bernault.
In: African affairs : the journal of the Royal African Society , vol. 109, no. 436, p. 367-390 : foto's, 2010.

How to honour a woman : gendered memorialisation in post-apartheid South Africa / Sabine Marschall.
In: Critical arts : a journal of media studies , vol. 24, no. 2, p. 260-283 : foto's, 2010.

La tragédie du roi Abdoulaye?: néomodernisme et Renaissance africaine dans le Sénégal contemporain / Ferdinand de Jong et Vincent Foucher.
In: Politique africaine , no. 118, p. 187-204 : foto, 2010.

Landscape of memory : commemorative monuments, memorials and public statuary in post-apartheid South-Africa / by Sabine Marschall. - Leiden [etc.]: Brill, 2010.

Le Mausolée Brazza, corps mystique de l'État congolais ou corps du "négatif" / Joseph Tonda.
In: Cahiers d'études africaines , vol. 50, cah. 198/200, p. 799-821, 2010.

Private sector involvement in public history production in South Africa: the 'Sunday Times' Heritage Project / Sabine Marschall.
In: African studies review : the journal of the African Studies Association , vol. 53, no. 3, p. 35-59 : foto's, 2010.

Quelque chose de pourri dans le post-empire : le fétiche, le corps et la marchandise dans le Mémorial de Brazza au Congo / Florence Bernault.
In: Cahiers d'études africaines , vol. 50, cah. 198/200, p. 771-798, 2010.

Re-reading the past: monuments, history and representation in short stories by Ivan Vladislavić and Zoe͏̈ Wicomb / Sue Kossew.
In: Journal of Southern African studies , vol. 36, no. 3, p. 571-582, 2010.

The Indian War Memorial: national memory and selective forgetting / Eric Itzkin.
In: Historia : amptelike orgaan , vol. 54, no. 1, p. 147-158 : foto's, 2009.

Marabouts, Maroc / Tahar Ben Jelloun ; photogr.: Antonio Cores, Beatriz del Rio ; dessins: Claudio Bravo. - [Paris]: Gallimard, 2009.

"A monument to a tyrant," or reconstructed nationalist memories of the father and founder of the Malawi nation, Dr. H.K. Banda / Reuben Makayiko Chirambo.
In: Africa today , vol. 56, no. 4, p. 2-21 : foto's, 2009.

Pratiques du patrimoine en Égypte et au Soudan / sous la dir. de Omnia Aboukorah et Jean-Gabriel Leturcq. - Paris: Cedej, 2009.

Preliminary inventory of historic and cultural monuments and sites of the Gambia : developing the framework for inventorying the heritage of The Gambia / UNESCO Office in Dakar and Regional Bureau for Education in Africa. - [Dakar]: Unesco, 2009.

Speaking of freedom? : heritage, memory and public remembering in Kliptown / Naomi Roux. - Johannesburg: Naomi Roux, 2009.

Banda's monuments and the narrativisation of Malawi's history in the post-Banda era / Reuben Chirambo.
In: Journal of social development in Africa , vol. 23, no. 1, p. 139-160 : foto, 2008.

Elmina : building on the past to create a better future / [ed.-in-chief: Ester van Steekelenburg ; interviewing: Stratcomm Africa ; text ed.: Stewart Brierley]. - Amsterdam: KIT Publishers, 2008.

Le makanbo du Morne : esclavage, négritude et créolité / Jean Clément Cangy ; [version kreol: Marjorie Desveaux]. - [Port Louis]: Éditions Marye Pike, 2008.

Pointing to the dead : victims, martyrs and public memory in South Africa / Sabine Marschall.
In: South African historical journal , vol. 60, no. 1, p. 103-123 : foto's, 2008.

Prompting reflections: an account of the 'Sunday Times' Heritage Project from the perspective of an insider historian / Cynthia Kros.
In: Kronos : 'n geleentheidspublikasie van die Wes-Kaaplandse Instituut vir Historiese Navorsing , no. 34, p. 159-180 : foto's, 2008.

Zwischen Kulturstätten und Wüstensand : Libyen öffnet sich für den Tourismus : Besucherevaluation und Strukturanalyse des Tourismus in Libyen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Weltkulturerbestätten antiker Provenienz / von Jacqueline Passon. - Berlin: Mensch und Buch Verlag (MBV-Berlin), 2008.

Bamako, Mali: monuments and modernity in the urban imagination / Mary Jo Arnoldi.
In: Africa today , vol. 54, no. 2, p. 3-24 : foto's, krt, 2007.

Cultural heritage, identity, and tourism in Mauritius : moving beyond the tourist gaze / Anne K. Soper. - Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Dissertation Services, 2007.

Monumental sculpture and national culture : the construction of the commemorative statue of Mustafa Kamil, 1914-40 / by Israel Gershoni.
In: The Maghreb review : a bi-monthly journal on North African affairs , vol. 32, no. 4, p. 288-322 : ill., foto's, 2007.

Shaping the symbolic landscape : public monuments in Nairobi, 1899-1992 / Laragh Larsen. – Dublin : Trinity College, 2007.
http://www.tara.tcd.ie/handle/2262/86422

African colonial soldiers between memory and forgetfulness : the case of post-colonial Senegal / Ruth Ginio.
In: Outre-mers : revue d'histoire , t. 94, no. 350/351, p. [141]-155 : foto's, 2006.

From dungeons to dance parties : contested histories of Ghana's slave forts / Elizabeth MacGonagle.
In: Journal of contemporary African studies , vol. 24, no. 2, p. 249-260, 2006.

Les lieux de mémoire à Mayotte / Isabelle Denis.
In: Outre-mers : revue d'histoire , t. 94, no. 350/351, p. [157]-173 : foto's, krt, 2006.

Les passés présents de La Redoute (île de la Réunion) : le militaire, le sportif et le politique / Yvan Combeau, Évelyne Combeau-Mari, Prosper Eve.
In: Outre-mers : revue d'histoire , t. 94, no. 350/351, p. 69-80, 2006.

Madagascar se souvient : les multiples visages du monument aux morts du Lac Anosy, Antananarivo / Eric Jennings.
In: Outre-mers : revue d'histoire , t. 94, no. 350/351, p. [123]-140 : foto's, 2006.

Memories of a lost cause : comparing remembrance of the Civil War by Southerners to the Anglo-Boer War by Afrikaners / Jackie Grobler.
In: Historia : amptelike orgaan , vol. 51, no. 2, p. 199-226 : ill, 2006.

Monument(al) meaning-making: the Ncome monument & its representation of Zulu identity / Scott M. Schönfeldt-Aultman.
In: Journal of African cultural studies , vol. 18, no. 2, p. 215-234, 2006.

The silence of Great Zimbabwe : contested landscapes and the power of heritage / Joost Fontein. - London: Ucl, 2006.

Transforming museums : mounting Queen Victoria in a democratic South Africa / Steven C. Dubin. - New York [etc.]: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.

Transforming the landscape of memory : the South African commemorative effort in international perspective / Sabine Marschall.
In: South African historical journal , no. 55, p. 165-185 : foto's, 2006.

Travail de mémoire et construction nationale au Mali / Doulaye Konaté ; préf. de Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch. - Paris [etc.]: L'Harmattan, 2006.

Une nouvelle liberté? : art et politique urbaine à Douala (Cameroun) / Dominique Malaquais.
In: Afrique & histoire : revue internationale , no. 5, p. 111-134 : ill., foto's, 2006.

Le site historique d'Abomey entre passé et présent / Roberta Cafuri.
In: Africa : rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione , a. 60, n. 2, p. 260-271 : foto's, 2005.

Mapungubwe : ancient African civilisation on the Limpopo / Thomas N. Huffman. - Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2005.

Museums, monuments and the politics of memory in post-apartheid South Africa : transforming the simbolic landscape / Marc Howard Ross.
In: Studia africana : publicació del Centre d'Estudis Africans-Barcelona , no. 16, p. 69-79, 2005.

The Voortrekker Monument heritage site : a new statement of significance / Cecilia Kruger and Marié Van Heerden.
In: Historia : amptelike orgaan , vol. 50, no. 2, p. 237-260, 2005.

Gestures of compensation : post-apartheid monuments and memorials / Sabine Marschall.
In: Transformation : critical perspectives on Southern Africa , no. 55, p. 78-95, 2004.

Histoire, mémoire, réconciliation en Afrique du Sud : le Monument aux Voortrekkers, cinquante ans plus tard: histoire d'une auto-réconciliation / Rehana Vally.
In: Cahiers d'études africaines , vol. 44, cah. 173/174, p. 323-341, 2004.

La stèle éthiopienne de Rome : objet d'un conflit de mémoires / Éloi Ficquet.
In: Cahiers d'études africaines , vol. 44, cah. 173/174, p. 369-385, 2004.

Aksum : an archaeological introduction and guide / David W. Phillipson.
In: Azania : the journal of the British Institute of History and Archaeology in East Africa , vol. 38, p. 1-68 : ill., foto's, krt, 2003.

History after apartheid : visual culture and public memory in a democratic South Africa / Annie E. Coombes. - Durham, NC [etc.]: Duke University Press, 2003.

Setting up a dialogue: monuments as a means of 'writing back' / Sabine Marschall.
In: Historia : amptelike orgaan , vol. 48, no. 1, p. 309-325, 2003.

The African American factor in the commodification of Ghana's slave castles / by Brempong Osei-Tutu.
In: Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana , n.s., no. 6, p. 115-133, 2002.

Carte culturelle du Mali : esquisse d'un inventaire du patrimoine culturel national / [contrib. de Téréba Togola ... et al.]. - [S.l.]: Ministère de la Culture du Mali, 2002.

Duwisib : die deutsche Ritterburg in Namibia und ihr Burgherr Hansheinrich von Wolf / Harald N. Nestroy. - Windhoek [etc.]: Namibia Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft, 2002.

Genocide serenade / concept: Kofi Setordji & Maarten Rens ; dir. and camera: Maarten Rens ; poem: Evans Oma Hunter ; music: Della Borti & Emashie Cultural Group and members of Hewale Sound. - Amsterdam: Foundation AfricaServer [etc.], 2002.

Ithyphalliques, traditions orales, monuments lithiques et art rupestre au Sahara : hommages à Henri Lhote / préf. Alain Jardin ; textes réunis par Jean-Loi͏̈c Le Quellec ; avec la collab. d'Aldo Boccazzi ... [et al.]. - Saint-Lizier: Aars/Afu, 2002.

Saving Sungbo's Eredo: a challenge to Nigerian archaeologists / David A. Aremu.
In: West African journal of archaeology , vol. 32, no. 2, p. 63-73 : krt., tab, 2002.

The use of geographical information systems for documenting archaeological and tourism resources of Ijebuland, southwestern Nigeria / Titi Olukole and David A. Aremu.
In: West African journal of archaeology , vol. 32, no. 2, p. 35-61 : ill., krt., tab, 2002.

Frühzeitliche Handelsfestungen an den Küsten Afrikas heute - die Sicht der Denkmalpflege / Andreas Vogt.
In: Journal , vol. 49, p. 51-90, 2001.

The Boer War, museums and Ratanga Junction, the wildest place in Africa : public history in South Africa in the 1990s / Leslie Witz, Ciraj Rassool & Gary Minkley. - Basel: Basler Afrika Bibliographien, 2000.

Description of Egypt : notes and views in Egypt and Nubia, made during the years 1825, -26, -27, and -28: chiefly consisting of a series of descriptions and delineations of the monuments, scenery &c. of those countries; the views, with few exceptions, made with the camera-lucida / Edward William Lane ; ed. and with an introd. by Jason Thompson. - Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2000.

Signs, cities, and designs of capacities : the semiotics of road monuments in some Nigerian cities / Obododimma Oha.
In: The African anthropologist : journal of the Pan African Anthropological Association , vol. 7, no. 1, p. 33-47, 2000.

UNESCO, heritage and Africa : an anthropological critique of world heritage / by Joost Fontein. - Edinburgh: Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh, 2000.

Wikidata Map

Each red dot on the map indicates the location of a work of public art. If you click on a dot, a window pops up showing a photograph of the public artwork (provided that the Wikidata record contains an image). The popup window also offers a link to an English Wikipedia article (if it exists). For your viewing pleasure, zoom in and you will discover, among other things, that Douala has a couple of well-documented pieces of modern public art.
Click on plus and minus to zoom. To move the map, click and hold your mouse, then drag the map by moving your mouse.

Web resources

The ASC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

Wikimedia projects

Wiki Loves Monuments
Webpage for the 2019 competition. Wiki Loves Monuments (WLM) is a public photo competition around cultural heritage monuments, organized by Wikimedia chapters and groups. Participants take pictures of local historical monuments and heritage sites in their region, and upload them to Wikimedia Commons for use on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2019

Wiki Project Public Art
Webpage of the project 'Wiki Project Public Art'. The project aims to encourage the creation of accurate, informative, and up-to-date articles about public art.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Public_Art

Culture and Safety in Africa. Documenting and assessing the impact of cultural events and public art on urban safety
Website of the research project including a overview of and access to the research output.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Culture_and_Safety_in_Africa ; https://snis.ch/projects/mobile-access-to-knowledge-culture-and-safety-in-africa-documenting-and-assessing-the-impact-of-cultural-events-and-public-art-on-urban-safety/

Art biennials and festivals

Festigraff
International Graffiti Festival in Dakar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gawqutso8d8  (video impression of FestiGraff 5)

IPAF
Website of the International Public Art Festival in Cape Town.
http://ipafest.co.za/  (for more information on the festival see also https://artafricamagazine.org/south-africa-s-first-international-public-art-festival/ )

SUD Salon Urbain de Douala
Triennial festival of public art and contemporary art organised in Douala by Doual'art, a non profit cultural organisation and art centre founded in 1991 in Douala.
http://www.salonurbaindedouala.org/ ; http://doualart.org/

Biennial Foundation
Map of the biennial fournation with information over biennials worldwide (including the Dak'Art, Biennale de l'Art Africain Contemporain, KLA ART, Kampala Contemporary Art Festival, Rencontres Picha/Biennale de Lubumbashi, Luanda Triennale, Lagos Biennial)
https://www.biennialfoundation.org/home/biennial-map/

Other

Africanah.org
Africanah.org
Wesbite of Africanah, a platform for contemporary African, African American and Caribbean including two interesting articles on street art in Africa (by Craig Halliday and Christabel Johanson)
https://africanah.org
 

Picture gallery: examples of African public art