The myth of modernity in popular african art: Symbolic representations in popular carving and painting

The contemporary artists of Lusaka, Zambia are engaged in an image-making process. They present idyllic portraits of an Africa “as it was” to an audience of tourists and outsiders and play upon a unique blending of traditional and contemporary symbols for an African audience. The latter symbolic forms are representations of modernity and depict both the positive aspects of social change (e.g., material improvements) and its negative dimensions (the gradual destruction of tradition). This paper examines images of modernity in the representations of the natural world, men, and women by contemporary African artists. These images are living myths in the making and are expressive cultural responses to a diverse audience of consumers in a rapidly changing cultural milieu.