Frequently used as mobile storage containers or baggage by migrants and traders moving across borders, the mesh bag made of red, blue, and white polypropylene fibers has become a prominent element of African visual culture. This light, strong, and affordable woven bag, often referred to as “China bag” or “Chinese tote,”1 features prominently in recent artistic practices by African artists such as Nobukho Nqaba, Dan Halter, and Gerald Machona. In this essay I examine how these artistic interventions using photography, installation, video, and performance, circulating in galleries, museums, and the streets, contribute to sociological discussions about the ways in which emerging trajectories, relationships, and identities are perceived and debated in the context of the global South. I do not view the South here as a settled geopolitical order, but understand it as a concept about mobilities, transitions, and shifting relations.2 More specifically, I suggest that transformation of China...
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
Summer 2018
June 01 2018
“The Bag Is My Home”: Recycling “China Bags” in Contemporary African Art
Ying Cheng
Ying Cheng
Ying Cheng is an assistant professor of African Languages and Cultures, Peking University, China. She is also a research associate of Rhodes University, South Africa. [email protected]
Search for other works by this author on:
Ying Cheng
Ying Cheng is an assistant professor of African Languages and Cultures, Peking University, China. She is also a research associate of Rhodes University, South Africa. [email protected]
Online ISSN: 1937-2108
Print ISSN: 0001-9933
© 2018 by the Regents of the University of California.
2018
The Regents of the University of California
African Arts (2018) 51 (2): 18–31.
Citation
Ying Cheng; “The Bag Is My Home”: Recycling “China Bags” in Contemporary African Art. African Arts 2018; 51 (2): 18–31. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_a_00400
Download citation file:
Sign in
Don't already have an account? Register
Client Account
You could not be signed in. Please check your email address / username and password and try again.
Could not validate captcha. Please try again.
Sign in via your Institution
Sign in via your InstitutionEmail alerts
Advertisement
Cited By
Related Articles
China-Africa Relations: Research Approaches
African Arts (June,2012)
Export of Recyclable Materials: Evidence from Japan
Asian Economic Papers (January,2016)
Afrofuturism and the Technologies of Survival
African Arts (December,2017)
Sustainable Global Governance? Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle Institutions
Global Environmental Politics (November,2015)
Related Book Chapters
Is Recycling Garbage?
Recycling
Paper Recycling
The U. S. Paper Industry and Sustainable Production: An Argument for Restructuring
Recycling Memory
Artifacts: An Archaeologist's Year in Silicon Valley
Recycling as Symbol and as Process
Recycling