illustrated books from China. These, in fact, were propaganda publications written in Arabic for a Middle East audience in the context of the Cold War. When I bought one volume, the bookshop man Abdulla usually offered a second one for free. Most of the stories praised the actions of the Chinese Red Guard against the Japanese imperialists or other counter-revolutionary groups; I remember ‘Taking Tiger Mountain by trickery.’ I also collected the official magazine China Illustrated with rich iconography, in fact, where I discovered traditional and modern Chinese watercolours. I was so fascinated by this imagery which mixed together calligraphy and drawing that I copied them. At that time, it was a very useful, artistic experience for me. Along with the propaganda purpose, I found serious works of unknown Chinese masters. Both taught me a lot about the art of ‘picture-making.’ I think the propaganda dimension in my paintings might have its origins in my Chinese ‘revolutionary’ experience. I have continued to collect Chinese illustrated books and posters wherein the imperialists continue to be ‘Paper tigers’ (Mao)! During my student years, I also read Egyptian magazines with comic strips and good illustrations by Egyptian artists, including those in Roz al Yusuf and Al Hilal publications.
Banana Tale: Monkey Visa, 2007 S
ince 2003, Hassan Musa has employed the folkloric form of a tale to convey his significant experiences with international African art. This series, entitled Banana Tales extends the motif first seen in his representations of Josephine Baker (1906-1975, one of whose
famous costumes featured a string of bananas). Monkey Visa is Musa’s response to the symposium that accompanied the exhibition, Black Paris, at the Museum of World Cultures, Frankfurt, Germany. The specific stimulus was the question asked by the German curator, Christine Stelzig, “did I feel disappointed” to be exhibiting work in an ethnographic museum rather than a museum of contemporary art. This “…new banana tale illustrates the complexity of the position of non-European artists in the middle of an European existential conf lict; the conf lict about how to define the museum today” (e-mail: 21.10.07). Musa thanks his friend Mustafa Adam of the United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, for telling this tale to him; translation by Hassan Musa. One day an official delegation of the French Ministry of Agriculture and Natural
Resources contacted a young African Lion. They kindly asked him if he would accept the respectable job of The Lion at the Paris Zoo, because the old, Parisian lion was retiring. The African Lion examined the contract and found everything was okay. It was in accordance with the legal conditions of national workers and offered a reasonable wage. His job was to sit and to walk in his cage in a dignified manner. So, he signed the contract and took the plane to Paris. As promised, he found a wide, comfortable cage. So, he took a nap. The cage service
woke him up for lunch; he headed toward the big platter and removed its cover. How surprised he was to find only a bunch of bananas. He said to himself, “This could be a mistake, so I am not going to make a mountain out of a molehill on my first day. I will eat these bananas.” And he did. The next day at lunch time the Lion removed the food cover and was surprised –no, he was more than surprised, he was shocked—to find a bunch of yellow bananas.
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