Exhibition at Fowler Museum puts spotlight on video art from Africa

'Inheritance: Recent Video Art from Africa,' opens Feb. 17 and will remain on view through July 28 - UCLA Newsroom - Every generation inherits intangible histories, mores and practices from its predecessors. A new exhibition at the Fowler Museum at UCLA features works by three contemporary African artists who are contending with the political, social and environmental realities of the postcolonial era in their respective home countries. "Inheritance: Recent Video Art from Africa," which opens Feb. 17 and will remain on view through July 28, presents post-independence-generation artists Kudzanai Chiurai, who is from Zimbabwe; Zina Saro-Wiwa, from Nigeria; and South African Mikhael Subotzsky, as they look to the past to help define a way forward. The works on view reflect a process of acknowledging the transmission of trauma and dispossession, not simply triumph and freedom. In addressing the historical complexities of unwanted legacies, the artists aim to dismantle colonial constructions perpetuated by the social and political powers that be.