- Title
- “The Bag Is My Home”: recycling “China Bags” in contemporary African art
- Creator
- Cheng, Yeng
- Date
- 2018
- Type
- text
- Type
- article
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/145676
- Identifier
- vital:38457
- Identifier
- https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1162/afar_a_00400
- Description
- Frequently used as mobile storage containers or baggage by migrants and traders moving across borders, the mesh bag made of red, blue, and white polypropylene fibers has become a prominent element of African visual culture. This light, strong, and affordable woven bag, often referred to as “China bag” or “Chinese tote,”1 features prominently in recent artistic practices by African artists such as Nobukho Nqaba, Dan Halter, and Gerald Machona. In this essay I examine how these artistic interventions using photography, installation, video, and performance, circulating in galleries, museums, and the streets, contribute to sociological discussions about the ways in which emerging trajectories, relationships, and identities are perceived and debated in the context of the global South.
- Format
- 14 pages, pdf
- Language
- English
- Relation
- african arts, Cheng, Y., 2018. “The Bag Is My Home”: Recycling “China Bags” in Contemporary African Art. african arts, 51(02), pp.18-31., african arts volume 51 number 2 18 31 May 2018 1937-2108
- Rights
- Publisher
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the African arts Statement (https://0-www.jstor.org.wam.seals.ac.za/journal/africanarts)
- Hits: 975
- Visitors: 1059
- Downloads: 106
Collections
RU DST/NRF SARChI for Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details | SOURCE1 | The Bag Is My Home.pdf | 629 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details |