Documenting the Undocumented Project at the Africa Rising Conference
Earlier this year, we worked with four visual artists in Tanzania to explore the role of women artists as documentarians of the African narrative. Implemented by Arts and Culture for Development (AC4D) and hosted by Emergent Art Space (EAS), the Documenting the Undocumented project aims to promote and record Tanzanian culture and support artists to take part in cross cultural collaborations and dialogues.
From 29th – 31st August 2022, Jennifer Msekwa is engaging in dialogue at the Africa Rising Conference in Arusha, Tanzania. A key highlight at this year’s conference was the feature of our Documenting the Undocumented project where Jennifer Msekwa, Tanzanian visual artist and environmental activist presented about the artwork she created during the project. In her presentation, she reflected why preserving and presenting history through art matters and why it was important for her to be part of AC4D’s project.
She also reflected about her approach to the project which she titled ‘impala’ to shed light on the purpose it serves for Hadzabe women during their menstruation due to the lack of water in their community.
She shared about her motivation being rooted in the role of art as a tool for activism with women at the forefront.
“My artwork aims to show how natural resources available in the Hadzabe community enable them in their daily social activities. It helps to dispel negative perceptions of the African continent that seem not to have enough resources to facilitate daily life needs, especially the basic ones”- says Jennifer Msekwa.
Africans Rising is a Pan-African movement of people and organisations, working for justice, peace and dignity. The conference convenes Africans, both at home and in the Diaspora, and offers a platform to reconnect, ask deep questions about the African continent and come up with key recommendations to take forward.
The conference is being attended by more than 300 people from different African countries and over 5,000 registered participants online.
