Centre for Contemporary Art hosts Fulbright fellow

The Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA), Lagos, will be hosting its first Fulbright fellow, Antawan Byrd as from September 2009.

Byrd, a graduate of Temple University’s Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, US, will spend 10 months at the CCA, an independent visual art organisation established in 2007 to provide a platform for the development, presentation and discussion of contemporary visual art and culture.

During his stay in Nigeria, Byrd will relate with the city of Lagos and Nigeria. He will also engage with the art community including artists and students of arts and art history. “Contemporary art, for me, has always been a fruitful field of engagement because of its discursiveness.

There is plenty to be said about objects of art, the circumstances underpinning their production, the artists who make them, and the spaces that exhibit them-ranging from formal and museological concerns to the social, cultural and geopolitical”, Byrd says of his forthcoming scheduled interactions.

He adds: “To me, all of this is an urgent form of research, as the concept of contemporary African art is fraught with complexities and must be broached through intellectual rigor, active engagement and dialogue. This is precisely why my research will be based at CCA, Lagos.”

Born 22 years ago in Washington DC, Byrd is currently a curatorial intern at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, where he is researching for an upcoming exhibition on the portrayal of Africans in Renaissance art.

Curator of the CCA, Bisi Silva says of the exchange programme, “It is a privilege that in such a short period of time, the role of CCA, Lagos, is being widely acknowledged as a potential partner for important research on contemporary art from Africa. My colleagues and I are excited about the depth of critical engagement and collaborative interaction Byrd’s presence will engender.

He seems like a committed young scholar and - like his counterparts at CCA, Lagos - part of a new and growing generation of emerging curators to watch. We find it fulfilling to be part of that process and are sure that the visual art community in Lagos and across the country will take full advantage of the possibilities that arise. “