Any thoughts from expats in Africa?

Dearest expats who have lived in Africa or have thoughts about self-exile,

I just got an email from New York-based dancer Nora Chipaumire saying that she is interested in collaborating with me during her Florida State University choreographic fellowship. Since some of you lived in Africa for a bit, any thoughts about Nora's work in relationship to mine and your own expat experiences would be helpful. More about her plans during the residency is at https://www.mancc.org/2007-2008-artists/nora-chipaumire.html

Video clip of her style
= http://www.pentacle.org/Artist_Roster_Nora_Chipaumire.htm



I'm thinking flooding the stage with animations of floating figures, white on black, swooping down, something like the one above.

Let me know if you have any ideas.
Thanks,
j.


Having lived in two African countries, Nicola Jane Barratt suggestions are below.

Hey,

Two (3, 4?) separate trains of thought on this:

1. Last night i watched "Darwin's Nightmare". if you haven't seen
it, check it out. It's basically about how the west rapes Africa of
all her bounty and leaves her starving, homeless and dying of AIDS.
not very uplifting, but they show a local artist in the film called
simply Jonathan - he's just as impoverished as the rest of the people
of Mwanza, Tanzania. Not that people don't buy art, but the buing
power of the people of Mwanza is highly limited - not many tourists
there. There are wealthy locals - someone is definately getting rich
from the Nile Perch industry in Mwanza, the export rose market in
Zambia and Kenya, the gem market in Madagascar. But the money never seems to trickle down to the people - I have been watching it for years. The best explanation i can come up with, is that the wealthy people don't keep their money in-country and they don't seem to be locals. For whatever reason: fear of government confiscation of property, massive taxation, lack of infrastructure, government instability... people transfer the majority of their money to Europe, the US, South Africa - buying houses or other investments - instead of spending the money in the local economy as immigrants to the US and
Europe did and do....... the locals are not "in charge" - why? have the capable ones left? are the locals not educated enough to run things? for whatever reason, there is a small and not growing middle class of black Africans ........ are we taking artists, the same way we take the fish, roses, gold and diamonds ?????????? should we be careful ????

One of the great things about living in Africa is our ability to
purchase high quality original art (which is pretty much impossible
for us in the US or Europe). It isn't cheap here, but it's doable,
even for teachers. which brings up point #2 ...

2. the value that our culture places on different occupations. as a
teacher, i can't afford to live in the US and raise my children
without losing my sanity - hence, my self-imposed exile. our culture
does not value child-rearing enough to allow one-parent to stay home
part-time (unless the other one is a financier and hence, taking part
in the rape of Africa - see point #1), or both parents to work
reasonable hours and have time to be parents. our culture does value
entertainment and art - the very highest paid artists and entertainers
are multi-millionaires....... in Africa, teachers and artists make
similar amounts of money (do they?-or is this my perception?) - they
are valued equally (or is this perception?) is my life possible here
only because I , in turn, am raping the locals? even in my purchasing
of art for "reasonable" prices?

Nora and i have exiled ourselves for the same reason people have
always exiled themselves - opportunity - for financial security,
freedom of expression, freedom to live closer to one's values .......
For some reason, it's often easier to live closer to one's values when
one lives in exile. The locals tend to leave you alone, to live as
you wish - they figure that you are foreign and entitled to your
values, as long as you don't bother them, whilst those who remain "at
home" are pressured into conforming - which, in the US, means
pressured into consumerism: getting the kids the latest electronics,
getting that new car, getting that new coat of paint on the house -
spend, spend, spend .....

i wonder if Nora's topless performance would be seen so positively if
she was white? could she do this in Zim ???? do American's allow and
promote her because she is "primitive" - "that's just how African's
are" ??????? do Africans allow me to walk around braless because i
am vahza, muzungu, foreign, white????????? or do they silently judge
me, despise me but are too polite to say anything?? do i offend or
am i invisible? do i bring more to this impoverished country by
spending 50% of my dollars here (because i have a big family and hire
nannies, buy lots of local products, believe in buying local art) than
i destroy with my flashy wealth, condescending attitude, promotion of
English, promotion of independence, promotion of women's rights
......... aaah questions for the ages....

November 15, 2007 by Nicola Jane Barratt

Hey all,

Sorry it's been a while - had a fabulous time with Amy and Rick last
month. They arrived and flew up to Nosy Be for 4 days, diving with sea
turtles and whale sharks. We met them in Diego Suarez, at the
northern tip of Madagascar. Next morning we hired a Landcruiser and
driver to take us to the Ankarana Special Reserve. This place
consists of spiky eroded limestone towers called Tsingy and an
associated cave system. We climbed the Tsingy and smiled at the
lemurs hopping along ahead of us and the ring-tailed mongoose who was
hoping one of the babies would fall into his mouth. The giant bat
cave was totally "Indiana Jones" - thousands of bats could be seen
with flashlights, their eyes glowing red in the dark. There were
small, medium and large varieties hanging from the ceilings, chirping
constantly and a few flying around our heads. Whilst scrambling
through the passages, the guide warns us not to touch the walls, then
shines his light to show us the wall covered in giant spiders! The
Sakalava people hid in this cave for 2 years when the Merina people
were trying to conquer them (I wouldn't have lasted a day with the
chirping and the wings brushing past my hair and the guano everywhere-
did I mention that there's a crocodile infested river running thru the
cave?). We stopped to pay respects to some of the Sakalava who died
here – there is a pile of skulls and other bones with some coins that
the Sakalava leave who come to visit their ancestors.

We also drove out to a beautiful beach at the Baie of Sakalava. This
is a kite-surfing and windsurfing hotspot. The wind was blowing pretty
hard, but the water was turquoise blue. We were the only ones
strolling along the white sand beach, watching a few lone hopping,
spinning and flying thrill seekers out at the reef break. We wished
Pete Schneider was there to enjoy the wind and waves! We will never
forget Laady, our Malagasy guide, who took great pains to showed us
how untimely, lazy, and charming a Malagasy can be whilst
overcharging, lying and getting lost! The fresh fish, curries and
cold drinks were fabulous.

Halloween was good this year. Tigi won the best costume contest for
his age (a week of paper mache and paint for me), while Jackson won
the pumpkin-carving contest with his depiction of a witch stirring a
cauldron. Jeff's birthday has come and gone – we made a plan with a
local artist to make table tops out of giant ammonites as a
celebration.

We have been hot on the trail of new jobs – a rollercoaster of
emotions – trying to determine the pros and cons of living in places
we've never visited - lots of letters, phone calls and emails to
exotic locations – Nanjing (China), Dubai, Buenos Aires, Rio de
Janeiro, Caracas, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, Moshi (Tanzania), Bangalore,
Tashkent, some place in Spain – questions to ask, questions not to
ask, weighing the opinions of friends, family, colleagues, bloggers,
travel agents, tourists and school administrators - but the winner
this time – taking first place due to the high pay and benefits, great
housing, high academic standards, world class sports facilities,
proximity to beaches and mountains, attention to safety and security
………… and opportunity to witness peace in the making ………. Is KARACHI,
PAKISTAN.

OK – before you start screaming- we have spoken with the Head of UN
Security here who got the scoop from Karachi for us. He says that the
security is tight –movement is resticted often, but everyone is
totally safe, at all times. Because we will be living on-campus with
full use of the resort-like facilities, we aren't worried about
restricted movement. The Director of the school speaks to the US
Embassy Head of Security weekly for updates and implements changes in
routine and safety precautions accordingly. Remember - CNN loves
hype – it sells advertising, but protest marches are the heart and
soul of political change. Also remember that 300 people die every day
in the US in car accidents and this never makes the news. Our US
gov't wants us to believe that life in other countries in incredibly
dangerous compared to life in the US –so you will be happy driving for
3 hours per day, working 80 hours per week - but we must try and
separate actual risk from perceived risk. When people make plans to
mitigate real risk, life is safer than when real risk is ignored.
Quality of life, for us, means a great education for our children,
lots of time with family during the school year and during the
holidays, saving for retirement, healthy and fun options for leisure
time, and a dynamic work environment. Karachi has all this and the
opportunity to live within a 1000 miles of the Taliban!

More NPR expat issues

Unbelievable. More on expats. Mentions 4-6 milion expats being sought out by presidential hopefuls...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14943150

Diane Rehm on expats

http://wamu.org/programs/dr/07/11/06.php#18202

This link should take you directly to the audio.
http://wamu.org/audio/dr/07/11/r2071106-18202.ram

art + blog = blogart?

Another call for the effects of blogging on artmaking. During my MFA, I dreamt of big collaborations among communities spread throughout the globe, bonded together through conversation made possible through this new technology, but sigh...most people don't leave comments. I feel like I'm talking to myself. I again encourage everyone to leave comments. It raises the level of criticality about our globe-trotting lifestyle, considering both its pleasures and its dangers.

Thanks, Joelle

Call for papers at http://www.collegeart.org/opportunities/listing/1784/

CFP: art blogging == global.show(local);

Category: Calls For Papers [View all]
Posted by: San Francisco State University
Deadline: 11/09/07

New Media Caucus in Association w/CAA. Feb 20-23, 2008 Dallas. Panel Chair Paul Catanese paulc@sfsu.edu. Abstract & bio due 11/9/07.

An explosion of blogs from artists, galleries, residencies and museums are reshaping professional practice in the arts. Though promotion is a driver, some sites focus on projecting a local arts scene into a broader context. Other models investigate blog as sketchbook or open atelier. Does art blogging indicate the emergence of a dislocated, local arts scene? Can blogs shift the space of studio practice while retaining its capability to be unstructured? Is the quest for site traffic at odds with periods of gestation and dormancy? What models exist for balancing these forces? What are the implications for establishing an art practice for those who remain virtually present, yet physically distant? Panelists will be requested to participate on a group blog prior to conference. Prior blogging experience not required.

Full panel info: www.artblogging.org

Miwon Kwon's Comments on Nomadism

From Miwon Kwon's "The Wrong Place." Art Journal > Vol. 59, No. 1 (Spring, 2000), pp. 32-43.

It occurred to me some time ago that among many of my art and academic friends, the success and viability of one's work is now measured in proportion to the accumulation of frequent flyer miles. The more we travel for work, the more we are called upon to provide institutions in other parts of the country and the world with our presence and services; the more we give into the logic of nomadism, one could say, as pressured by a mobilized capitalist economy, the more we are made to feel wanted, needed, validated, and relevant. It seems our very sense of self-worth is predicated more and more on our suffering through the of always traversing through elsewheres. Whether we enjoy it or not, we are culturally and economically rewarded for enduring the "wrong" place. It seems we're out of place all too often.

But what is a "wrong" place? How does one recognize it as such, as opposed to a "right" place? What do we really mean by these qualifying adjectives? Is being in the wrong place the same thing as being out of place? And what are the effects of such mis/displacements for art, subjectivity, and locational identities? In light of the intensified mobilization of bodies, information, images, and commodities on the one hand, and the greater and greater homogenization and standardization of places on the other (which, by the way, facilitates the smooth, unimpeded mobilization and circulation of these bodies, information, images, and commodities), I continue to wonder about the impact, both positive and negative, of the spatial and temporal experiences that such conditions engender not only in terms of cultural practice but more basically for our psyches, our sense of self, our sense of well-being, our sense of belonging to a place and a culture.

Finally to work on the expat book. Post your comments soon if you'd like to be included. See my Friday, July 20, 2007 post for more info.

Back in Mad Land by Nicola Jane Barratt

More writing by Nicola Jane Barratt sent from Madagascar

been back 2 weeks now and have adjusted quite well -
the journey here was almost uneventful - small glitch in that i
accidentally booked both flights for the same day so that when we
arrived in Paris, our flight for Tana had left the day before -
whoops! - lucky for us, the US ambassador and his family had missed
their flight to Paris and we took their seats on the flight to Tana
(you'd think we'd all understand the flying thing a bit better by now,
wouldn't you!!) - when we arrived, after our 19 hours of air time, we
were the last ones off the flight, not unusual except that we were
actually seated right next to an airplane exit, and a flight of stairs
had been pushed up next to the door - the steps were only a meter
from our seats but alas, this is Madagascar and the door leading to
the stairs was never opened - communication error??? electrical
error??? finally we were told that the lights were not working near
that exit .... hmmmm... lights? what lights? who knows? (half our
luggage didn't make it so we were the last ones out of the airport
anyway .....(F____ the french and their airline!!!!))

and then you come down the steps into the Malagasy night and your nose is filled with the smell of cooking fires, the streets are dark and quiet, and you know you are back in Africa (sort of).........

but back at home is mostly great - i love my huge (but standard)
european bath tub, even more, i love the lady that keeps it sparkling
clean. i love the seemingly endless supply of hot water from our 100
gallon hot water heater, that someone else pays the electric bill for.
and the other lady who takes care of the children so i can take a long
hot soak. i love coming home from work to the smell of dinner
cooking, with always enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow. i love when
the children are happily ensconced in their classrooms with their age
appropriate activities and professional educators!!! i love that
there are coaches who occupy the older children with round objects
until 4:30 pm and that this will continue until December because it
never rains until then. i love that the phone never rings (never mind
it's because i've had to unplug it so i can plug the space heater in
to the only electrical outlet!). the stove blew up and we lost all
the electric for a while but the internet appears to be working quite
well!!! more soon, love and kisses, nikki

photography + travel

The photograph reverses the purpose of travel, which until now had been to encounter the strange and unfamiliar.
(Marshall McLuhan)

art + blog = blogart?

See previous entry called "art + blog = blogart?" entry below the following pictures. The project is for an exhibition described in that entry. Here's the jist:

1) Look at the pictures (click on picture for bigger image), see if any inspire you / reminds you of your expat experience.
2) Add comments through blog or email to me at jdietrick@gmail.com.
3) The best poems / comments / quotes will be published in a book and the writers of those best comments / quotes will receive one of the books. I'd love to develop the book even further into a limited edition artist book at the Women's Studio Workshop next summer if this one goes well.

Hopefully summertime reflections will help you to process your expat experiences and put it online for others to enjoy. I moderate the comments to avoid an influx of spammers, but feel free to post anonymously if you are shy.

I hope that you find time to participate. The exhibition deadline is July 31, 2007.
Thanks,
Joelle

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art + blog = blogart?

When I started female-expat.org in 2004, my dream was to bring together the creative outpourings of women spread throughout the globe in one place online. The exhibition call below inspired me to not only have it exist online, but to have us collaboratively create a book that would be made available at lulu.com because although we love our computers as a way to explore content, many of us still enjoy having a hard bound book that we can hold in our hands while we take a break from technology.

Here's the quick and dirty directions to this project:
1) Scoll through the images
2) If any image relates to your own experience, write a poem or simple phrase in the one-line thought / quote from another offer, etc that relates.
3) Enter your poem, comment, quote, etc in the comment line for all to read (you can also email me your comments at jdietrick@gmail.com)
4) The best comment will be paired with that image for a book that will be made available online.
5) I'll buy and mail a copy of the book for those people whose writing is chosen.
6) The book will remain online for other female expats for years to come.

Thanks for participating!
Joelle
jdietrick@gmail.com


http://weblog.nmartproject.net/index.php?blog=8&title=call_for_entries_internet_based_art_java&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

a + b = ba ?
[art + blog = blogart?]

JavaMuseum - http://www.javamuseum.org
is starting its 2nd phase
by publishing on open call focussing on the question
whether blogs and/or blogging can be tools for creating a new type of net based art.
The launch of this new project in September 2007
is planned to be also the occasion for re-launching
JavaMuseum after a phase of re-structuring since 2005.

[More:]

.
JavaMuseum - Forum for Internet Technology in Contemporary Art,
founded in 2000, realized between 2001 and 2005
18 show cases focussing on Internet based art in a global context,
including more than 350 artists from 40 countries.
In this way, JavaMuseum was able to show for the first time the dimension of Internet based art as a new and individual art genre, even if it is continously said to be dead.
.
For a + b = ba?, JavaMuseum is inviting
artists to submit such an art project
which is using the blogging technology.

One blog project only can be submitted.

Please use this form for submitting:

1. first name/family name, email address, URL homepage
2. short artist bio/CV
3. title of project, year of launch
4. URL of project
5. short project description ( English, no more than 300 words)
6. 2 screen shots (jpg, 800x600 px)

7. answer the questions of the interview
which can be found here --->
http://weblog.nmartproject.net/index.php?blog=11&cat=80

Please send the requested material via email to
info@javamuseum.org
subject line: a+b submission

Deadline 31 July 2007

Flyover + the American Outback

After having professors insist that I not go to a small town for fear that I was committing art career suicide, I found it comforting to find praise for Flyover, a blog that collectively covers strong small town art scenes. The site led me to Jennifer Smith's coverage of the Wisconsin Triennial and commentary on the work of Stephanie Liner. With my own tendency to combining women's bodies and domestic objects, the work appealed to my sensibilities. Check out her website at www.stephanieliner.com.

bell hooks

Now reading bell hooks' book Art on My Mind: Visual Politics. In a chapter, titled "Women Artitsts: The Creative Process," she writes about the need for a room of one's own (see also Virginia Woolf's 1929 extended essay). I flashback to my days overseas: with the excitement of travel and the desire to take advantage of the experience, I made little time for reflection. my Female Expat Project was originally created to encourage expatriated women to do so. From hooks' chapter:

I think often and deeply about women and work, about what it means to have the luxury of time-time spent collecting one's thoughts, time to work undisturbed. This time is space for contemplation and reverie. It enhances our capacity to create. Work for women artists is never just the moment when we write, or do other art, like painting, photography, paste-up, or mixed media. In the fullest sense, it is also the time spent in contemplation and preparation. This solitary space is sometimes a place where dreams and visions enter and sometimes a place where nothing happens. Yet it is as necessary to active work as water is to growing things.

Letters to a Young Diplomat: Plea for Participation

Picture of Eugenie Moore Anderson
In October 1949 President Truman appointed Anderson United States Ambassador to Denmark; she was the first American woman to serve as the chief of a mission abroad.

Ok, "plea" for participation sounds a bit desperate, but here's the deal: in times when our foreign policy is constantly questioned by other countries (and often rightly so), an art project highlighting a more human side to our activities overseas seems critical. Why art? At its best, art whittles down matters to powerful visual and forms that have residence. I leave you with one of my favorite art quotes.

There are moments in our lives, there are moments in our days, when we seem to see beyond the usual. Such are the moments of our greatest happiness. Such are the moments of our greatest wisdom. If one could but recall his vision by some sort of sign. It was in this hope that the arts were invented. Signposts on the way to what may be. Signposts toward greater knowledge.

Best Expat Blogs

Interesting list at Expatica = http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=25&story_id=32358.

Looking forward to nosing through it later.

A billion thanks for the web's best-of sites because there is just too much stuff to wade through on the internet. For all of my art lovers, here's one of my favorite art ones = http://newsgrist.typepad.com/

Stay tuned for more.

obituaries + movement

Notebooks from a Creative Capital Foundation workshop has me writing one, three, five and ten year goals. Then it asks me to write an obituary. Although it sounds like a morbid task, it does put every goals into perspective. Now I'm nosing through the New York Times obits only to find one on Isabella Blow. When her rich grandfather escapes gambling debt by fleeing to Kenya where "he joined the Happy Valley set of alcoholic, aristocratic semi-exiles." It's no wonder when expatriates are thought of as privileged vagabonds. I flash back to a squirrel seen yesterday—specifically to his skip, skip, leap, skip and his simple joy found in movement—maybe in less cynical terms, that is what all the moving is about...

Howard Zinsser

Another expat contacted me about her interest in my project and mentioned her interest in writing about her expat experiences. I recommended Howard Zinssers' How to Write Your Memoir. Since I loved his book On Writing Well, I'm guessing that I can recommend his book on memoirs. An interview with Zinsser about memoirs can be heard at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5340618.

Enjoy...

Letters to a Young Diplomat: Letters Sealed

Having stuffed envelopes for far too long today, the letters to our current female US ambassadors are sealed and ready for delivery. Admittedly, I am terrified that none of them will participate--I realize that they have hectic lives--but I'm hopeful so that their voices might be gathered in one spot rather than scattered in a handful of publish and unpublished memoires.

The value of artworks is that they develop ideas / critical thoughts / momentous events into powerful forms. Inshallah, my piece for the fall show, resulting from these letters, will be one such form.

More to follow...

Letters to a Young Diplomat

Websites for inspiration:
guide2womenleaders.com/index.html
artonpaper.com/LTYA/
www.sfgoth.com/~immanis/rilke/letter1.html

Florida State University gave me a 2007 summer grant to continue work on my Female Expat Project. In preparation for an exhibition this fall, I'm emailing and sending letters to all of the current female U.S. Ambassadors a letter by a fictional, inspiring young diplomat. I'll also post that letter here. Modelled after Rainer Maria Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet" and Art on Paper's "Letters to a Young Artist, the project documents what role women play in the power structures of the 21st century. Please email me at jdietrick@gmail.com or simply post to the blog if you have a response. These responses will be used to create glowing plexi pieces housed in furniture with the possible addition of sound. I'm so excited.

As I wrote in the letter of introduction to our ambassadors, I hope that you will consider participating to help document our shifting definitions of place for future generations of women overseas to enjoy the recent, huge shifts in these definitions.

Thanks,
Joelle

Dear Ambassador:

I am writing you as a young woman interested in the Foreign Service. Although I was raised in a small city and have only traveled throughout the United States, other cultures have always fascinated me. Coupled with my interest in international relations and a commitment to community service, this interest in a life overseas inspired me to research careers in the Foreign Service. During this research, I encountered your name.

At the prompt of our teacher's assignment, I am writing to you in the hope that you can find the time to write a letter in response. I'm specifically interested in the joys and challenges of a life overseas, and if you would do anything differently. Although regret is a useless emotion for an individual, when clarified for a future generations, it is informative. I hope you are able to find time in your busy schedule to send a few words of wisdom.

First, I have a few questions about gender. If the people with the greatest amount of power in the 20th and especially the 21st centuries are those people who can thoroughly understand and gracefully navigate the global scene, what role are women playing in these high-powered roles? Have you found any challenges in the Foreign Service because you are a woman? Do you notice any difference in how your male and female colleagues manage their work and personal lives? Is there a glass ceiling? Are you always taken as seriously as your male counterparts in other countries?

Lastly, with anti-American sentiment on the increase, does you position in the Foreign Service ever make you uncomfortable? Friends of my parents, who have lived overseas, say that people in other countries often clarify their anti-American sentiment by explaining that they dislike the government, not Americans. As a representative of our government, can you clarify how this sentiment affects your work and sense of self?

In contrast to the politically correct statements made my most government officials, I hope you can speak candidly in your response since such honestly will helps guide me to make important decisions. I tried to look up memoirs of diplomats and other books related to the Foreign Service. Not a single one was written by a woman. Please let me know if there are any that you can recommend.

I look forward to your response. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,


Joelle Dietrick

itinerant

At the prompt of Noah Wardrip-Fruin's visit to Naomi Spellman's class at the University of California, San Diego, I ordered his book Second Person: Role-Playing and Story in Games and Playable Media. Although I'm not a big gamer, the emphasis on play and analysis of the virtual / actual overlap attracted my attention. Since Noah teaches at UCSD's School of Communications, local favorite thinkers / artists—like Lev Manovich and Adriene Jenik—are in the book..as they should be. Having just dipped into the book, I've only read Teri Rueb's description of her artwork Itinerant involving a small pocket PC with GPS and headphones. As a participant moves to a specific section of the city, their new location, tracked by GPS, triggers the playback of sounds that have been "placed" in that area. Excerpts from Mary Shelly's Frankenstein and Rueb's text about an uncle (I think fictional) who wanders the world with restlessness and is ostracized by their family.

Teri Rueb is one a handful of artists doing great work with GPS systems. The incorporation of this technology in stories about Female Expats navigating the globe make sense. More about Teri's work is at terirueb.net.