William Karg
My definition of justice in the housing field means pairing the number of people with an adequate amount of housing at the income level of the people who require that housing; be it self-build housing in Africa, public housing or single room occupancy housing in the United States. To that end, I have been the Director of Planning at the Boston Housing Authority and worked with other agencies in all aspects of public housing operations and design. To further the availability of affordable housing beyond public housing, I was one of the first developers and managers of affordable furnished rooms in the City of Boston. This housing passed the test of being financially viable while being affordable. As a result of my experience, I was invited to sit on a New York City advisory committee which on privately developed single room occupancy housing.
African affordable housing, while very different in nature, offered me the opportunity to consultant to counties like Somalia and Lesotho and serve as staff to the government of Botswana as their Low Cost Housing Officer. The person responsible for all the low income housing in the country, I directed a uniquely successful program which enabled many rural Batswanans’ to move to the rapidly growing capital city with the promise of housing.
Where art does not exist, it will find a way to present itself. All I require is that it adds to the beauty we all need. As my housing work took me to many countries in Africa, I found an abundance of artistic expression. I began collecting for myself and began to build a network of artists. What I realized was that I was not discovering new African artists, rather I was bring additional attention to artists who were already well known in their own countries and, in most cases, Europe. They were only unknown to Americans. Thus started my career as a gallery owner, based on the philosophy that these recognized African artists should benefit from the American market and we Americans would learn more about African through their work. Contemporary African Art Gallery has, since that time mounted almost 30 exhibitions many of which were showing artists for the first time in America. Using beauty as the key, I have tried to be pan-African showing 35 artists from 20 different African counties.
The Gallery lived for over 30 years; however, my energy is now into creating a legacy. I have found a good home for the artists who have achieved substantial value by auctioning them at Sotheby’s London. By so doing, one artist who had been collected by the Modern is now also in the permanent collection of the Met. I then gifted 66 works of art to a community development corporation in Florida which is well connected to Art Basel Miami. Their effort to market and educate may do more to tell the world about Contemporary African Art than I was likely to do in a 30 year gallery effort.