African Cosmos: Stellar Arts

African Cosmos: Stellar Arts will be on view at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African from June 20 through Dec. 9, 2012. This is the first major exhibition which explores the historical legacy of African cultural astronomy and its intersection with both traditional and contemporary African arts. The exhibition of some eighty objects considers the continent's long and rich history of astronomical observations and the ways that celestial bodies and phenomena serve as inspiration and symbol in the creation of African arts dating from ancient times to the present. The exhibition will demonstrate that observations of the heavens are part of the knowledge that informs the construction of social institutions, artistic expression and ritual practice in African cultures.

View the Smithsonian website.

Starkid, 2007  -  Owusu-Ankomah, Ghana

Zulu  -  Gavin Jantjes

Information and images courtesy of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art