ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to introduce the students to artistry within Africa. A lot of students in the diaspora might have only been exposed to westernised art forms and may be completely oblivious to the ways art is expressed across Africa. Contemporary African art particularly cannot be generalised and reduced to a singular concept. This is simply because Africa spans 54 countries and there are many art scenes happening all over Africa, each fuelled by its own contextual parameters. Consequently, defining an exact idea of what African contemporary art is and looks like is impossible. The core of African artistic expression is composed of human figures, animal imagery and geometric patterns. In reality, African art is not art but a cultural object with a purpose. Its purpose is to facilitate communication between the people and the supernatural forces that influence their lives.
