pick of the week

Africa: the Art

of a Continent

The Royal Academy's Africa Exhibition is the linchpin of the current Africa '95 season. But is it everything we have been led to believe? Certainly there are extraordinary artefacts, from 27000BC to the 19th century, but how much has been changed to satisfy the requirements of political expediency? See for yourself.

From Thursday to

21 Jan 1996

(0171-439 7438)

The Dead

Death is a great leveller. It is also the ultimate taboo. Though it happens to us all, few are prepared to confront it. Perhaps "The Dead" will help us to understand mortality. From Mafia killings to Aids and images from the morgue - here is the last enemy, in all its glory and degredation.

From Fri to 7 Jan. National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, Bradford

(01274 727488)

American Photography

1890-1965

Photography has been one of the most important mediums in 20th-century art - and especially so in the US. This exhibition, taken from the massive archives of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, should set the record straight.

To 26 Nov. Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

(0131-556 8921)