African Aesthetics Presented in Context at University of Memphis

A new permanent installation, "Africa: Visual Arts of a Continent," gives locals another reason to enjoy the Art Museum of the University of Memphis.

Coordinated with an academic program to debut this fall — Arts of Africa and the African Disapora — the gallery space will stage annual exhibits that look at said art through the combined disciplines of art history and anthropology.

The first show, "Art in the Land of Sundiata," presents several dozen pieces from the Martha and Robert Fogelman Collection of African Art, a gift of nearly 200 pieces given to the university in 2008. Its title refers to Sundiata Keita, the revered 13th century Malian leader dubbed the "Lion King." As such, displayed objects reflect the cultures, beliefs and aesthetics of people linked historically to the Mali Empire, specifically the Dogon, Bamana, Senufo and Marka.

The idea, according to AMUM assistant director Lisa Francisco Abitz, is to provide a more appropriate frame of appreciation and understanding, where African art can be "interpreted as a broader cultural thing and not so focused on art for art's sake."

Exhibit curator and UofM associate professor of art history Earnestine Jenkins agrees and says that a prevailing issue for contemporary curators is how to properly present African art. Many pieces, for example, are architectonic — they are works of art that also function architecturally, such as the Dogon house post on display.

"One of the problems with exhibiting African art is that in the past it was done out of context," says Jenkins. "Also, you cannot talk about African art without talking about the history — colonization, slavery, race — because museums' major collections today came after colonization. So you have to connect those things."

A related exhibit, "Sogo Bò: The Animals Come Forth," which runs through Sept. 11 in the museum's adjunct gallery space, looks at a single cultural event — puppet masquerades by youth societies in the south-central Ségou region of Mali. Nearly 20 objects and video footage of a festival are featured; they come from a more extensive exhibit curated by Mary Jo Arnoldi of the Smithsonian Institution.

A museum exhibitions class put together the show, an appropriate gesture given that Sogo Bò is a youthful form of expression. As class instructor and UofM Egyptian art curator Patricia Podzorski notes, the traditional event and its highly colorful, fantastic creations are at once entertainment and commentary, where the young can satirize society in a way that is not destructive to the culture.

"Because it is run by young persons, change is actually built into it," she says. "Questioning authority is built into it. Tweaking the nose of social convention is appropriate. It's an opportunity for youth to act out in a sanctioned format."

"Art in the Land of Sundiata" and "Sogo Bò: The Animals Come Forth"

"Sundiata" is on display for one year, and "Sogo Bò" shows through Sept. 11; Art Museum of the University of Memphis, 142 Communication Fine Arts Building. Call 678-2224, or go to amum.org.

Source: www.gomemphis.com

By: Bill Ellis