DistanceandDesire

DistanceandDesireaccompanyingthesame-titledexhibitioninNeu-Ulmisthefirstmajorpublicationtostageadialoguebetweentheethnographicvisionsoflatenineteenthandearly-twentiethcenturyAfricanphotographyandengagementswiththisimagerybycontemporaryartists.Presentinganextraordinaryrangeofportraits,albums,postcards,cartesdevisite,andbooksfromSouthernAfrica,aswellasrecentphotographyandvideoartfromTheWaltherCollection,thecatalogueincludesoriginalthematicessaysbyleadingarthistorians,anthropologists,andculturalcritics.DistanceandDesireoffersnewperspectivesontheAfricanarchive,reimaginingitsdiversehistoriesandchangingmeanings.DistanceandDesireinvestigatestypicalrepresentationsofAfricansubjects,fromscenesinnatureandromanticizedimagesofsemi-nudemodels,tomodernsittersposinginstylizedstudios,criticallyaddressingthepoliticsofcolonialismandthecomplexissuesofgenderandidentity.Amongmanydiversetopics,thecatalogueexaminesin-depthaseriesofcartesdevisitefromtheDiamondFieldsinKimberley,thefigureoftheZulu,thehistoryofSouthAfricasprominentstudiophotographers,A.M.Duggan-CroninsextensiveethnographicstudyTheBantuTribesofSouthAfrica,andthearchiveofelegantfamilyportraitsreproducedbythecontemporaryartistSantuMofokenginTheBlackPhotoAlbum/LookatMe:1890-1950.ThecataloguealsorevealshowtheheritageofAfricanimageryfiguresinthepracticesofcontemporaryAfricanandAfricanAmericanartists,whosecompellingphotographyandvideoartreworksthearchivethroughsatireorappropriation.