Postcards from Africa: Avenue of coconuts, Nigeria

Sue Williamson
Postcards from Africa: Avenue of coconuts, Nigeria, 2018
Ink on Yupo synthetic archival paper and hand engraved museum glass
Work: 70 x 100 cm

Postcards from Africa is a series of new ink drawings based on postcards from the early 1900s, produced for residents and travellers in Africa as well as for collectors who had never set foot on the continent. These postcards, which peaked in popularity at that time, now contribute to understanding political and cultural changes in Africa as the rise of the new medium coincided with the expansion and consolidation of colonial rule. In Williamson's re-drawn scenes from these postcards, all the figures have been left out: a reference to the scourge of slavery, which saw 12.5 million people shipped from the continent to the Americas.