“Illustrating Early Postcolonial Africa” will present how artists illustrated books written in early postcolonial Africa (1960s-1980s) with a focus on West and East Africa. Mostly drawn from Memorial Library’s Africana Collection, the exhibit will highlight series from the publishing houses of African Universities Press (Lagos) and East African Publishing House (Nairobi). Many of these works feature striking cover art and illustrations that speak to literary and artistic trends of this significant era in African history.
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Chinua Achebe: With his works acting as showcases for major Nigerian artists throughout the decades, the exhibit will feature multiple different editions of some of his works, including all recent printings featuring cover illustrations by Victor Ekpuk.
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East African Publishing and African Universities Press: Including authors Pamela Ogot, Cyprien Ekwensi, Kola Onodipe, and Anezi Okoro.
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Cyprien Ekwensi: An important author of children’ s and young adult books, the exhibit will include all books by him that are held by Memorial.
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Focus on artists: Several artists now considered major figures within “Nigerian Modernism” illustrated books published between 1960 and 1980, such as Bruce Onobrakpeya and Uche Okeke. By including the recent editions of Achebe’s books that feature cover art by Victor Ekpuk (mentioned above), the exhibit shows how this trend has continued to the present.