This author explores the complexities of identity and cultural intersections with a unique perspective, drawing from Nigerian roots and American life. Early experiences with art and publishing hint at a deep understanding of visual storytelling and social commentary. Through their work, they delve into themes of belonging and the continuous reinvention of the self. Readers can expect insightful explorations of how environments shape the soul.
"With Cole's words and Sheikh's photos of displaced humans, we are confronted with fundamental and newly necessary questions of coexistence: who is my neighbor? Who is kin to me? Who is a stranger? What does it mean to be human?"--Publisher's description
The shadow of a tree in upstate New York. A hotel room in Switzerland. A young stranger in the Congo. In Blind Spot, readers will follow Teju Cole's inimitable artistic vision into the visual realm, as he continues to refine the voice and intellectual obsessions that earned him such acclaim for Open City. In more than 150 pairs of images and surprising, lyrical text, Cole explores his complex relationship to the visual world through his two great passions: writing and photography. Blind Spot is a testament to the art of seeing by one of the most powerful and original voices in contemporary literature.
“Many artists have felt the lure of juxtaposing photographs and text, but few have succeeded as well as Teju Cole. He approaches this problem with an understanding of the limitations and glories of each medium.” Stephen ShoreIn the period leading up to the November 3, 2020 elections in the United States, Teju Cole began to photograph his kitchen counter in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Working in the still life tradition of Chardin, Cezanne, and the Dutch masters, as well as such contemporary photographers as Laura Letinsky and Jan Groover, he photographed every day over the course of five weeks. Unlike those illustrious forbears, Cole left his arrangements entirely to chance, “the bowls and plates moving in their unpredictable constellations.” What emerges is a surprising portrait, across time, of one kitchen counter in one home at a time of social, cultural, and political upheaval. Alongside the photographs is a long written essay, as wide-ranging in its concerns—hunger, fasting, mourning, slavery, intimacy, painting, poetry and the history of photography—as the photographs are delimited in theirs. The text and photographic sequences are interspersed with an anonymous handwritten eighteenth century cookbook from Cambridge. Golden Apple of the Sun is a luminous and humane work, presented with the formal boldness and oblique intelligence we have come to expect from Teju Cole.
Persuasive and provocative, erudite yet accessible, Known and Strange Things is an opportunity to live within Teju Cole's wide-ranging enthusiasms, curiosities and passions, and a chance to see the world in surprising and affecting new frames.
Englische Lektüre für das 6. und 7. Lernjahr
Eine genreübergreifende Erzählung des nigerianischen Literatur-Shooting-Stars Teju Cole. Die Mischung aus Roman, Memoir und Collage eröffnet den Schülerinnen und Schülern eine doppelte Perspektive und weitet den Blick auf die Brüche und Verwerfungen einer pulsierenden Metropole auf dem afrikanischen Kontinent. Die Lektüre liest sich wie ein Reisebericht, doch ist viel mehr als das. Ein junger Schriftsteller kehrt nach Jahren in New York zurück in seine Heimatstadt Lagos. Sein Blick ist der eines Außenseiters und gleichzeitig der eines Einheimischen. Er erlebt Stadt und Land als chaotisch und korrupt, aber auch als dynamisch und modern. Meisterhaft schildert Teju Cole die intensiven Eindrücke einer Heimkehr und eines Lebens zwischen den Welten. Abiturempfehlung zum Thema: Voices of the African Continent: Nigeria
"Visiting Lagos after many years away, Teju Cole's unnamed narrator rediscovers his hometown as both a foreigner and a local. A young writer uncertain of what he wants to say, the man moves through tableaus of life in one of the most dynamic cities in the world: he hears the muezzin's call to prayer in the early morning light, and listens to John Coltrane during the late afternoon heat. He witnesses teenagers diligently perpetrating e-mail frauds from internet cafes, longs after a woman reading Michael Ondaatje on a public bus, and visits the impoverished National Museum. Along the way, he reconnects with old school friends and his family, who force him to ask himself profound questions of personal and national history. Over long, wandering days, the narrator compares present-day Lagos to the Lagos of his memory, and in doing so reveals changes that have taken place in himself. Just as Open City uses New York to reveal layers of the narrator's soul, in Every Day is for the Thief the complex, beautiful, generous, and corrupt city of Lagos exposes truths about our protagonist, and ourselves"--
"A haunting novel about identity, dislocation and history, Teju Cole's Open City is a profound work by an important new author who has much to say about our country and our world. Along the streets of Manhatten, a young Nigerian doctor named Julius wanders, reflecting on his relationships, his recent breakup with his girlfriend, his present, his past. He encounters people from different cultures and classes who will provide insight on his journey - which takes him to Brussels, to the Nigeria of his youth, and into the most unrecognizable facets of his own soul."--Page 4 of cover
Feeling adrift after ending a relationship, Julius, a young Nigerian doctor living in New York, takes long walks through the city while listening to the stories of fellow immigrants until a shattering truth is revealed.
Exploring the theme of human connection, Richard Renaldi's photographic series captures intimate moments between strangers posed together in portraits. Using a large format camera, he travels across the United States, inviting individuals to engage in physical interactions typically reserved for close relationships. This approach fosters spontaneous connections, challenging comfort zones and prompting reflections on the potential for meaningful bonds in a diverse society. The resulting images are both moving and thought-provoking, highlighting the beauty of fleeting relationships.
Exploring themes of art history, race, and gender, this work presents a diverse range of both figurative and nonfigurative pieces. It challenges viewers to reconsider the reception of artworks within the broader context of the art market, prompting a critical dialogue about how these factors influence perception and value in the art world.