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(b Nigeria, 1963).

Nigerian photographer, film maker, installation artist and writer active in Scotland. He studied Chemical Engineering at Strathclyde University, Glasgow (1981–85), before completing an MA in Media, Fine Art, Theory and Practice at the Slade School of Fine Art, London (1996–8). Bamgboyé’s earliest work was photographic: The Lighthouse series (1989; see 1998 book, p. 65) initiated his interest in the representation of black masculinity by depicting his own naked body in often theatrical contortions, amid mundane domestic rooms; the frames of the photographs are attached to coat hangers, underlining the theme of domesticity and pointing to his interest in the changeable character of subjectivity. These themes were further explored in films, which he began to make in 1993: Spells for Beginners (1994; see 2000 exh. cat., p. 74) explores the breakdown of his long-term relationship with a woman through a broken mix of confessional dialogue and fleeting images of their home. The installation of which this film is a part takes the form of an ordinary living room and is typical of Bamgboyé’s technique of adumbrating his imagery with sculptural motifs that emphasize his themes. In other films he explored the issue of migration: ...

(b Sousse, Tunisia, Dec 21, 1940).

French architect, active in Morocco. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, concentrating his studies on urban development and craft traditions. In 1968 he received his diploma and became a registered architect. He left France in 1969 and travelled in several countries, working in Casablanca before settling in Marrakesh in 1971, where he established his own practice. This remained a small one, allowing him as designer to retain control of every detail of his work. In both layout and design, Boccara’s architecture is rooted in the traditions of Islamic architecture in Morocco (see Islamic art, §II, 7(v)), which is characterized by refined decoration. His built works are not numerous but have been influential in developing a vocabulary for Moroccan architecture. They vary from the small Abtan House (1984), located in a palm grove outside Marrakesh, to the large, incomplete Opera House there (begun 1984...

(Omoshola)

(b Ibadan, Sept 10, 1951).

Nigerian architect. He was one of the 17 foundation students admitted to the two-tier architecture degree programme of the new School of Environmental Design at the University of Lagos in 1971 under John S. Myers and David Aradeon. After graduating with the BES (pre-architecture, 1974) and MED (architecture) degree in 1977, he served four years of apprenticeship in the Ilorin architectural offices of Niger Consultants. In the period 1981–5, he served as the Project Manager of the Economic and Technical Services Limited on the Agbara Estate project, the residential and industrial estate on the Badagry Expressway. Since 1985, when he opened his architectural office, the Siji Dosekun Partnership has been responsible for various projects. In Grailland, the sanctuary for the Grail followers in the Iju Hills (1985), his use of red bricks on the Gate House and fence walls, in conjunction with the green foliage and tall trees on the undulating landscape, achieves a spiritually uplifting ambience at the entry gates. Dosekun was a leading member of the generation of young Nigerians educated completely within the country in the 1970s, and his houses and residential projects continually question the basic assumptions expressed in Nigerian domestic architecture of the 1950s–1970s. By completely separating the dining- from the living-room in the four-storey apartment building constructed for the ...

(b. Tripoli, Libya, 1945).

Libyan painter. He returned to Libya in 1970 after graduating from the Plymouth School of Architecture and Design in England. In 1974 he was appointed consultant to the Festival of Islam in London, and in 1981 he settled in England. He typically uses individual letter forms based on the maghribī style of script typical of North Africa, setting one or two large letters against a richly textured abstract ground with accompanying excerpts from Arabic and world literature that address social and moral issues. His works have been exhibited in more than 60 solo and group exhibitions and can be found in many major museums. Chairman of Muslim Cultural Heritage Center in London, he has also been involved with several other cultural and intellectual institutions there.

(b Johannesburg, Sept 7, 1938).

American architect, teacher, historian, and writer of South African birth. Greenberg’s quiet, gentlemanly demeanor reflected the time-honored traditional and classical architecture he created over four decades. His stylistic choices are rooted in research and aesthetics. His fascination with 18th- and 19th-century American architecture is related to its genesis in the American Revolution and the commitment of those architects to expressing American democratic ideals in architectural form.

Greenberg graduated from King Edward VII School, a private preparatory school in Johannesburg, in 1955. He received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in 1961. Unlike American architecture schools of the period, his training was classically based and included drawing the historic models of Classical and Gothic architecture from memory. During his apprenticeship, he worked with Jørn Utzon in Hellebæk, Denmark, in 1962 during the design phase of the Sydney Opera House. In 1963, he continued his apprenticeship working with both ...

(b Liverpool, March 3, 1942).

English architect. Having studied at the University of Manchester School of Architecture (1961–7), he worked briefly in Montreal, in connection with Expo ’67, and in Tripoli, where he was a housing architect for the Libyan government. From 1968 to 1971 he was an assistant to Arne Jacobsen in Copenhagen, for whom he worked on the design of the Kuwait Central Bank (built 1973–6), Kuwait City. His doctoral dissertation (1979) has Jacobsen’s work as its subject-matter. In 1972 he formed the practice of Rod Hackney & Associates at Macclesfield, Ches, and soon became known for the refurbishment of several brick-built terrace houses (1972–5) around Black Road in the town. Although intended for demolition, the houses were saved and then improved and altered in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants. The significant contribution of the residents in determining what alterations were made and assisting in the execution of the work meant that the scheme was subsequently seen as one of the pioneering examples of ...

Togolese, 20th – 21st century, male.

Born 12 October 1956, in Lomé.

Painter, sculptor.

Jimi Hope is a self-taught artist. He studied architecture at the Da Silva Institute in Lomé, but then turned to painting, sculpture and song. He fills his paintings with African faces.

(b Santiago, Chile, Feb 5, 1956).

Chilean architect, public interventionist, installation artist, photographer, and filmmaker, active in the USA. He first studied architecture at the Universidad de Chile in Santiago, then filmmaking at the Instituto Chileno-Norteamericano de Cultura, Santiago, concluding in 1981. Throughout his career, Jaar’s works have taken many forms in order to address global themes of injustice and illuminate structures of power. In over fifty projects he termed “public interventions,” Jaar conducted extensive research around the world to create site-specific works that reflect political and social realities near and far from his sites of exhibition. He created works—in gallery spaces and in public, often engaging spectator involvement—that present images critically and confront the social and political interests they serve.

Jaar’s first public intervention was Studies on Happiness (1979–1981), a three-year series of performances and exhibitions in which he asked the question, “Are you happy?” of people in the streets of Santiago. Inspired by ...

Congolese, 20th – 21st century, male.

Born 27 August 1948, in Kimbembele Ihunga (now in Democratic Republic of Congo).

Sculptor. Architectural views.

Bodys Isek Kingelez is self-taught. He lives and works in Kinshasa. After working on the restoration of traditional masks, Kingelez launched out into making maquettes in paper, cardboard, plastic or adhesive, inspired by the colonial architecture of the 1930s and 1950s. He makes meticulous, perfectly designed maquettes of imaginary furniture from pieces of recycled paper and cardboard. Each of his extraordinary creations, decorated with symbols, flags or signs, is accompanied by a text with a long descriptive commentary....

(b Addis Ababa, 1970).

Ethiopian painter, active also in the USA. She received a BA from Kalamazoo College, Michigan (1992) and an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design (1997). Mehretu simultaneously references and breaks from the history of abstract modernist painting in her works, which combine multiple layers of drawing and painting, and are embedded with appropriated cultural references ranging from corporate logos and architectural structures to art history, comics, and graffiti.

Works such as Dispersion (2002; see 2006 exh. cat., 81) first suggest topographical drawings combined with geometric colored shapes and swirling lines in a controlled chaos that simultaneously deconstructs and regenerates. Her work has been influenced by a range of art historical sources: a Baroque theatricality (alluded to specifically in The Seven Acts of Mercy (2004), inspired by Caravaggio; see 2006 exh. cat., 132–133); Italian Futurism’s anarchistic revolution fueled by speed and technology; and the utopian social visions of Russian Constructivism. Geometric shapes associated with Kazimir Malevich are referenced in ...

Tunisian, 20th – 21st century, male.

Active in France.

Born 1955, in Tunis.

Painter. Figures, landscapes, architectural views, still-lifes.

Marc Perez is the grandson of Moses Levy and nephew of Nello Levy. He lives and works in Paris. Perez captures the mark of time on the city, its walls, and its architecture, working in blurry flat washes in medium tints (beige, grey, pale pink, sky blue) dappled with dark and light. Objects are typically presented in his still-lifes as simplified volumes (cylinders), a style reminiscent of that of the Italian artist Morandi. After working on architectural themes and still-lifes, he turned the same technique and muted range of colours to figures and faces....

(b Cairo, Aug 7, 1943).

Egyptian architect. He graduated from Ain-Shams University in Cairo in 1965. Between 1965 and 1970 he lectured at the university while studying and working with his mentor Hassan Fathy, the well-known proponent of vernacular architecture. In 1971 he went into private practice, eventually establishing offices in Cairo, Jiddah, and Ashford, Kent. He acted as an adviser to the Ministry of Tourism in Egypt (1972) and as consultant to UNESCO (1979–1980). From 1993 he was based in Miami, FL, with intervals spent in Saudi Arabia. In 1980 he won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for the Halawa house in Agamy, Egypt, completed in 1975. The two-story house was built around a courtyard, and the articulation of space was handled with great sensitivity and simplicity. Openings in the white walls filter light to the interior through carved wooden screens (Arab. mashrabiyyas), and much of the courtyard remains in shadow, staying cool during the heat of the day. From this small vacation house El-Wakil went on to design larger houses such as the spectacular Al Sulaiman Palace (1980) in Jiddah, which uses the same principles but on a more lavish and larger scale. For a short time, the architect toyed with other expressions of form but quickly returned to his exploration of tradition. El-Wakil’s most convincing designs have been those for mosques (for illustration ...