African Arts articles from September 2004

African Arts archives from September 2004

Bicentennial blues.(first word)
September 22, 2004... I caught up with Marilyn Houlberg last November in Port-au-Prince. We had co-curated "The Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou" exhibition for the Fowler Museum in 1995 and subsequently stayed au courant of Vodou's ever-evolving scene. Now I was...

My Ethiopia: Recent Paintings by Wosene Worke Kosrof.(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... My Ethiopia Recent Paintings by Wosene Worke Kosrof Christa Clarke Neuberg Museum of Art, 2003.30 pp. Color illustrations; selected bibliography compiled by Patricia L. DiRubbo. $25.00 paper. Ethiopian Passages ...

Nkanu and Mbeko art and ritual.
September 22, 2004... In 1990, I first traveled to Lower Congo (zone of Kimvula) to participate in the daily life of the Nkanu and their neighbors. It was my goal to study the use of "art" objects within their ritual framework. (1) Since there is little in the...

Urban textile traditions of Tunisia.
September 22, 2004... This article draws together several years of fieldwork-based research into the urban textile traditions of Tunisia. In contrast to rural traditions of women using woolen yarn on upright, single-heddle looms (Reswick 1985), urban traditions are...

Ethiopian figurines from Mugar monastery in Shawa.(Critical Essay)
September 22, 2004... In traditional highland Ethiopia, handicraft workers were not considered part of mainstream society and were shunned on account of their occupation and supposed polluting habits. Such workers--for the most part blacksmiths, weavers, and...

Dance uniform history in the church of Nazareth Baptists: the move to tradition.
September 22, 2004... Uniformed traditional "holy dance" makes the Nazareth Baptists most conspicuously the cultural nationalist African-initiated or independent church (AIC) in South Africa today. No other wears its African identity so forthrightly. In this essay I...

Painting Ethiopia: the life and work of Qes Adamu Tesfaw.(exhibition preview)
September 22, 2004... A Project of the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, in collaboration with the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University, "Painting Ethiopia: The Life and Work of Qes Adamu Tesfaw" celebrates the creativity of one of Ethiopia's...

Artists advertising themselves: contemporary studio facades in Ghana.(photo essay)
September 22, 2004... Although mechanically reproduced, electronically illuminated signs commonly proclaim corporate identities in modern Ghana, hand-painted signs are still the primary means for advertising small businesses. The urban landscapes of Ghana are...

Masken: Gesichter aus anderen Welten.(exhibition)
September 22, 2004... Masken: Gesichter aus anderen Welten Museum Rietberg, Zurich December 7, 2003-March 28, 2004. The Museum Rietberg in Zurich is to be congratulated on mounting one of the most refreshing exhibitions on masquerading in many years:...

Current events.(Calendar)
September 22, 2004... Information subject to change * western states (by closing date) Asking for Eyes The Visual Voice of Southern Africa Through December 4, 2004 San Diego State University San Diego, CA Saluting Vodou Spirits...

Griots at War: Conflict, Conciliation, and Caste in Mande.(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... Griots at War Conflict, Conciliation, and Caste in Mande Barbara G. Hoffman Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000. ix + 298 pp. b/w photographs, bibliography and index. $39.95 cloth. Most readers are familiar with works...

In and Out of Focus: Images from Central Africa, 1885-1960.(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... In and Out of Focus Images from Central Africa, 1885-1960 Christraud Geary, with an essay by Krzysztof Pluskota London: Philip Wilson Publishers for Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2002. 128 pp.; 154 b/w photos, some hand-tinted,...

African Theater Women.(Book Review)
September 22, 2004... African Theater Women Jane Plastow, ed. James Currey, Oxford; Indiana University Press, Bloomington; Witswatersrand University Press, Johannesburg, 2002. 178 pp. $24.95 paper. This volume brings together, under Jane Plastow's able...