Celebrating community and honoring the contributions of generations of African Americans is at the heart of Black History month. Every year, the City’s Multicultural Affairs Committee offers a special invitation to an artist whose work will inspire visitors to recognize the importance of African American history in our community, nationally, and globally.

This year, organizers asked Zion City Community Art Center (ZCCAC) to present the work of two artists from the African Diaspora, who have ties to Madison, Mark Buku and Philip Kumah.

Mark Buku states “My work makes an insight into social, political and cultural issues through intellectual and aesthetic exercise drawing primary inspirations from my African history and heritage. I engage whatever subject matter comes to me and its treatment does not obliterate my concept of visual construction. In art I find expression of my narrations and views, immortalizing what are normally overlooked in everyday life.”

Philip Kumah is one of the upcoming young artists in Ghana. He specializes in abstract painting, realism, portraiture and collage. He is also interested in fashion. His source of inspiration is based on women, the environment, music and African Indigenous culture. In addition, he paints portraits and has done works that are spiritually inspired. Many of his images are influenced by the Ashante and Akyem (Akan) cultures and the motifs in his artwork represent his traditional roots as well as his life experience in Ghana.

ZCCAC features both local and international work by both academically trained and outsider artists from a wide range of cultural backgrounds. The Gallery’s mission is to exhibit work that touches aesthetic, social, environmental and spiritual concerns.