Making African Art
“In the past I’ve worked in quantitative research. This type of more archival, textual research is great experience that I needed to build up.”
Sandra Nwogu (MS, Applied Statistics) is a graduate student on the “Making African Art” project. The project explores the social and political milieu from which the field of African art emerged. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
HC: How did you originally become involved with the “Making African Art” project?
SN: I had worked with one of the investigators, Dr. Kelly Askew, on her Tanzanian Land use project for about two years. She told me about the “Making African Art” project as they were assembling a team to begin their research. I’m originally Nigerian, and I’ve worked on African research and policy issues for a while. The project sounded incredibly interesting and I asked to be considered as a team member.
HC: Could you describe your participation in the collaboration?
SN: I’ve worked as an assistant to Laura De Becker on research involving the part of the project focused on Pan-African festivals and the art movement on the African continent both by Africans and Africans in the diaspora. We’ve been following the change and shift in awareness of African art, both of the canonical/traditional type of art and more modern art. This involved reading and cataloging research and essays and trying to track down the location of some of the pieces we identified which might be of possible interest for the exhibition which is planned for 2021.
HC: What have been your most memorable experiences on your Collaboratory project?
SN: The archival research trip to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in NY. It was my first time doing historical/archival research of that nature. It was a successful trip in that we got a lot of good material and answers to some of our questions about what went on during the 1966 Dakar festival.
HC: Has your Collaboratory activity enabled you to expand upon your graduate work?
SN: In the past I’ve worked in quantitative research. This type of more archival, textual research is great experience that I needed to build up. I also plan to go on to get a PhD, and my work at the Collaboratory will be the perfect type of experience to have [for advanced research].
HC: What would you say to other graduate students interested in getting involved in a Collaboratory project?
SN: Definitely go for it if you can. I can’t stress enough how much of a learning experience it was. Being in a space with so many brilliant people who are experts in their field and watching how the project goes from an idea to the implementation was great. Working as part of an interdisciplinary Collaboratory team will be a significant experience to highlight whether you’re going on to more school or for a full time job after graduation.