ABSTRACT
This study analyses mid to late19th century illustrations by British special artist correspondence with the aim of providing an argument for their merit and reasonability as materials intended to represent reality. The study examined over twelve thousand images and identified well over fifteen hundred dedicated to West Africa under several categories such as;
- Architecture,
- Cultural events,
- Conflicts (Wars & Expeditions),
- Portraits.
The central questions this work invites us to ask are –how well did these images published in the Illustrated London News capture the realities of the region and what role did the images play in the construction of 19th century West African identity in the minds of British readers?
Speaker
Dr Adeyemi Akande is a Senior Lecturer in Critical and Contextual Studies with the AAD at London Met. He was 2023 Leonard A. Lauder Senior fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Arts, Washington DC. And 2023 Paul Mellon Mid-Career Research fellow, Paul Mellon Centre, London. His research interest revolves around images (in the broadest sense) as method and tool for studying the material, art, and architectural cultures of pre-20th century West African societies.
Chaired
Dr Claire Jamieson is a Senior Lecturer in History and Theory of Architecture at London Metropolitan University, and is the Course Leader for the MArch RIBA II. She has authored a monograph published by Routledge on the radical architectural group NATØ (2017), and more broadly is interested in architectural histories beyond the building.
Image credits: The Ashante War; Paying the Fanti Women Carriers at Cape Coast Castle. 17th Jan. 1874. Illustrated London News.
Details
Aldgate Campus, 16 Goulston Street, London, E1 7NT
