Eighteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

African animation has long and diverse histories across many countries. Although it shares both the technology and some of the formal aspects of cinema, its historical development followed a different trajectory to that of indexical film, both in Europe and in Africa. This may be because of animation’s ability to draw upon a range of artistic practice, which has meant that it can take many guises, at times appearing like a cartoon, other times like puppets or sculptures that come to life, a metamorphic drawing or painting, and even a photographic montage. Different animators in Africa have used animation to this end, presenting subversive and social-realist content within the unrealistic depictions of fantastical stories, the parodic, comedic or allegorical, or culturally located visual metaphors. African animators have also used animation to safeguard and give permanence to the stories, myths and legends they grew up with. These legends have occasionally also informed animated super-heroes. With the onset of digital technology the landscape of animation in Africa has seen a mushrooming of activity from expert and non-expert prod-users.Their work circulates in formal and informal settings, whether visible at a festival, on television and mainstream media, in online social networking spaces or on video streaming sites such as YouTube. Networks of African artists have benefitted from the visibility and distribution that the Internet and smart phone technologies offer. However the ephemeral and transient quality of these digital spaces can also be problematic from the archivist’s perspective as digital traces move and change.