The radiance of the king..and other fun stuff!

Caricatures and other forms of animation are popular in American pop culture but it wasn't until we did the reading for class this week that I saw how our pop culture influenced African art.  The Radiance of the King talked a lot about the 2008 elections and mentioned a lot of illustrations with Obama and McCain that illustrated the varying perspectives of African peoples on American politics. I honestly did not know how much that election influenced the rest of the world. I mean it was one thing for our country to elect a black president but the influence that it had on the rest of the world, Africa specifically speaking, was remarkable.

Many of the illustrations that we looked at showed Obama as a immortal being overcoming all sorts of obstacles.  He was depicted as a superhero and other supernatural beings that gave the notion that he was a miracle from God almost.  The article suggested that this may had been because the African idea of what an angel should look like was a lighter skinned individual. This can be accredited to Christian missionaries and their work in Ghana, but Obama's "cafe au lait" skin color was mentioned as having influenced the artists' choice to depict him as angel.

Many of the illustration were almost like literal translations of how Obama and McCain were being described. I found this to be very interesting. In American culture when we do a similar thing, like say create a witty cartoon about a couple of politicians, we interpret the animation as being something sarcastic or to have been done in a joking manner. However, for Ghanaians these animations are taking much more literally. It may just be our sarcastic American sense of humor that finds these animations to be comical but in reality they were made to be taken seriously. This really helped to point out the modern cultural differences between America and Ghana.

I really enjoyed reading this article and looking at some of the other illustrations done in Ghana. The culture gap may be somewhat broad in terms of what we each consider to be funny or serious but in the end we both see the relevance that these events have to our societies. I would love to find out what Ghanaians think about other aspects of our culture, like Jersey Shore.  Americans (for the most part) do not take this group of people seriously and we make our own jokes about them. One would have to wonder if they find our sense of humor just completely bizarre.  I have a difficult time myself understanding the appeal in watching a bunch of orange drunks fist pump in the club but to each their own I suppose.

Week Three Reflections

This third week of classes consisted of a visit from Nani Agbeli and continued education about African textiles. We had discussed Adinkra prints and the process to which they are made but it was a completely different experience being able to actually make the prints myself.

Being from Ghana, Nani has had first hand experience in the world of batik. He mentioned early on that batik originate in Indonesia and eventually made its way to Ghana where it is predominately done. There is somewhat of a universal aspect to batik printing that makes it open to a number of peoples and cultures. The various stamps and symbols used in batik show its world wide influence.  It was difficult at first to grasp the idea of how the printing was done but after doing it first hand I believe that myself as well as the rest of the class have a better understanding and greater appreciation for batik.

The batiks that we had looked at in class were immaculate..seemingly perfect in almost every way. I knew from the start that mine would never be up to that caliber, but nonetheless it didn't stop me from, as Nani would say "going to town". I picked stamps that were aesthetically attractive to me and I came to find out that a lot of them didn't even have specific meaning. They were just symbols. That is another fascinating thing about these batik prints. It seems like everyone searches for a meaning behind a lot of these symbols when in actuality they were just picked because someone liked the way they looked. Pretty simple.

Nani himself is a very humble and passionate individual. He described his initial choice in high school to work in the visual arts field and how he has used things specific to his culture to inspire his art. It's always inspiring to see someone still passionate about their life's work even after years of practice. Aside from being a veteran artist in batik Nani is also a skilled dancer and drummer. I think that is one thing that really appealed to be about Nani...his overall zest for life and for his culture. Everything about him from the way he spoke to the way he dressed to how he carried himself. It was truly a pleasure being able to experience batik making and from such a distinguished guest to boot.

First thoughts on arts of Africa

Initially going into Arts of Africa I had no idea what to expect. Unfortunately my knowledge of Africa and the art forms associated with it were very limited and stereotypical. However, after the first couple of weeks in class I have a much better perception of African arts and all of its diversity.

I was actually quite surprised to find out that most of what western society considers to be art in Africa actually has more of a practical purpose. While the statuettes produced by the Dogon people would appear to merely be a well sculpted piece of wood to an outsider, they have a much more significant meaning to its creators. Child mortality was and is of high concern in developing countries such as Ghana so the concept of fertility and producing healthy children is a huge issue. The statuette shown features seated couple. Exaggerated features adorn either individual in order to further push the importance of fertility. 

I have an admiration for how functional and symbolic African "art" is. Not only can a piece be interpreted as something beautiful but it holds a specific purpose and therefore I feel that it's value far surpasses much of what is seen in western art.