African Oddyssey Media Quotes

According to a BBC reviewer, “If you visit only one exhibition of African stone sculpture in your life, this is the one, it is the definitive snapshot of how Shona stone sculpture has grown over the past 50 years to become one of the most exciting new genres of international art.

“Empty your mind of any preconceptions that Zimbabwean stone work is the kind of Airport art that is sometimes shown by those that are more interested in making a quick quid than developing the genre. This show, by the non-for-profit African Millennium Foundation, draws on rare material from the Frank McEwen Bequest at the British Museum.

“It is curated with sensitivity and transcends that confines of what is a relatively small gallery. There is a lot of misery in Africa and our government is allegedly eager to help alleviate it. It could do worse than take this exhibition into the rest of Britain to remind people that Africa is also the source of excitement, verve and originality.”

Peter Aspden from the The Financial Times, writes that there has been a “Continental shift – European visions of Africa changed Western art. Now Africans are reinventing their own culture.

“African Odyssey celebrates 50 years of Zimbabwean stone sculpture, a vibrant art form with a telling history. There is a fierce sense of moral purpose…

“The Africa of 2006 is no more the exotic playground in which jaded European spirits find refreshment and cultural renewal. That African moment is dead. Now comes the real one.”