Suffering and damage from the war always takes much more time to heal than the duration of the conflict itself. It takes an exceptional human spirit for any artist to maintain a positive will to become successful and to remain creative during, and after, the war. One of the people who proved that a positive human heart can not be destroyed by tragedy is Lessie Lumeh, a  Liberian artist who had to leave Liberia during civil war but who returned with his family 8 years later in 2005, at end of the conflicts, where he opened the Monrovia’s first Art gallery he named Art of the Heart. He strongly believes that the Art has an important and positive influence on healing of the Liberian people.

L. Lumeh in the front of his artwork - © leslie-lumeh.rlhub.com

Born in 1970 in Dambala, A. Leslie Lumeh is a self-taught artist who holds a diploma in architectural drafting from the Booker Washington Institute (BWI) in Kakata, Liberia. Presently Leslie is one of Liberia’s leading painters. He also works as illustrator and cartoonist for the Liberian Observer in Monrovia. Leslie discovered that his paintings were very positively received following the civil war. He started recreating scenes from the war, first in simple pencil sketches, and later in watercolors on drawing paper, then finally onto canvas. These early works attracted an unexpected number of people, not only Liberians but foreigners as well, including international journalists. Soon he was able to get commissions from private collectors as well as institutions. More of his work can be seen here and here.

This gallery spells peace. True peace… I decided to do this for the artists, not just for me, so we can have a place where we can showcase Liberian culture.

Leslie Lumeh

Leslie Lumeh’s example proves to all of us that we alone play possibly the greatest role in overcoming the odds we face but also that we should always willingly acquire positive influences from others, including our mentors and friends, who can play a constructive role in molding us. Feel free to read this article in which Leslie writes about one of his friends and mentors, Aaron Fallah Brown.

Artists can change any society positively if they work collectively

Aaron Fallah Brown

As seen on the poster below, including a graphic arts exhibition in an entertaining day for the whole family seems to be a current standard in Monrovia.

Poster announcing activities during the Bastille Day celebration in Monrovia, Liberia – © bp.blogspot.com

Written by Mark Bajkowski.
Mark, born in Poland, is a Jack of all trades, master of none, who lives in New York since 1979. Mark has an unusually wide range of interests and is known to relate well to the people half of his age. Since his early childhood, he felt a curious relation to Africa, which unavoidably brings up the controversial subject of multiple-life experiences.

The year 2009 will likely be remembered as the beginning of a more assertive phase in Chinese foreign policy, as seen in Beijing’s stance on reform of the international financial system, its massive investments in foreign countries, and in particular, its investment in and acquisition of energy and natural resource assets. At the same time, China’s progress is made in the very competitive global arms markets. Although China is far behind the leaders of conventional weapons supply, their offensive is global and it increasingly includes Africa. China sells arms to states from which it buys oil and gas or where it has gained access to explore for oil or gas (e.g. Sudan). China is also competing with the very strong role that Russia and Ukraine play in the African arms market, providing knock-offs of Russian-made weapons systems.

Military Expenditure by region (source: SIPRI Yearbook 2009, Summary)

Arms transfers to Africa can not be considered a strong weapons market by global standards, at least for now. The largest importers of weapons in Africa—South Africa and Algeria—import less than 10% of the world’s weapons. However, even small volumes of transfers of conventional weapons can have a significant impact on the region.

Militarization of Algeria, for example, plays an increasing role in recent levels of fighting there.  Morocco, Algeria’s neighbor and long-term rival, embarked on a significant military modernization programme involving supplies from USA, France and Netherlands. Chad’s arms imports have reached all time high in recent years. Kenya is also a strong importer of weapons  from Ukraine. In 2008, a consignment of heavy weapons was hijacked by Somali pirates while en route from Ukraine to Kenya and possibly partially ended in Southern Sudan. Furthermore, Sudan and Somalia are listed on the list of the 5 least peaceful nations on earth used for the Global Peace Index (GPI), which seeks to determine what cultural attributes and institutions are associated with states of peace.

Let’s keep our eyes on related reports published by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in Sweden. By an unfortunate correlation, Sweden, besides being associated with peace, is also a strong player in the international weapons market.

Written by Mark Bajkowski.
Mark, born in Poland, is a Jack of all trades, master of none, who lives in New York since 1979. Mark has an unusually wide range of interests and is known to relate well to the people half of his age. Since his early childhood, he felt a curious relation to Africa, which unavoidably brings up the controversial subject of multiple life experiences.

Their stories are numerous, some similar and others flavored by particular struggles in specific sites of discontent. Overall, their attitudes are of stubborn resilience, hope, and survival in environments desperate for their labor but resentful of their presence. With over 100 photographs and videos from Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, Holland, Czech and Britain, the exhibition, organized by NYU’s Africana Studies Department, follows some remarkably resilient immigrants on their uncertain sojourn on makeshift, intermittently powered fishing boats from West Africa, through the rigors of European immigration control, into the interstices of European society. AfrobeatRadio’s Wuyi Jacobs and Leon James talks to Awam Amkpa, Director of NYU’s Africana  Studies and co-curarator of They Wont Budge currently on at MoCADA on WBAI 99.5 FM on October 3, 2009.

This map presents (in French) summary data related to African immigration into countries of EU in 1985~1993 period (source: www.cartographie.ird.fr).

These works of art are created by award winning photographers, photo-journalists, and human rights activists all over Europe including Juan Medina (Spain), Alfredo Muňoz de Oliveira (Portugal), Francesco Cocco, Angelo Aprile, Elisa Cozzarini, Marco Ambrosi, Matteo Danesin, Aldo Sodoma and Stefano Renna (Italy). Also included are selected photos courtesy of agency Fotogramma (Milan) and AGNfoto (Naples).

The title “They Won’t Budge” is derived from Salif Keita’s song “We Won’t Budge” and adopted by Manthia Diawara as the title of his celebrated book. The exhibition is divided into 6 themes: Passages, Work, Defiance, Religion, Spaces, and Portraits. The exhibition also consists of installations of African working migrants and artists, anti-racist campaigns and protest songs that illustrate the advocacies of Africans and Civic organizations in Europe.

Book reading by Manthia Diawara. Elizabeth Nunez scholar and author of “Grace” in conversation with Manthia Diawara University Professor at NYU, on his book “We Won’t Budge: An African Exile in the World” at the QBR Author Talk: Emerging Writers, Emerging Markets at The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture on July 15,  2003. The event was sponsored by QBR The Black Book Review and The Asian American Writers Workshop. Originally recorded in film by Melvin Simmons and edited for audio by Wuyi Jacobs.