Arts of Africa at the Fowler: African Blacksmiths, Swahili Artisans, Family Festivals
Head to the Fowler Museum on Sunday, November 4 for an afternoon of African-inspired food, music, storytelling, and surprising conversations with curators and blacksmiths. Programs for all ages will spark curiosity about the impact of art in communities far away and how it shapes our own daily lives.
"The Fowler Museum at UCLA is a go-to public treasure for a perennially inspiring mix of cultural anthropology, elevated global crafts, and the contemporary intersections of traditions from every part of the world, close to home and further abroad in time and geography. The Fowler’s special gift is for bringing an academic and diasporic art history to life, enlivening its exhibitions with public, often family-friendly programming that educates not only about history but about salient cultural relevance to the here and now.
Currently the Fowler is presenting the landmark survey "Striking Iron," which examines the sophisticated craftsmanship and symbolism of several pan-African blacksmithing traditions over many centuries, demonstrating elegant, elaborate sculptural and design flair and fascinating cultural functions. The exhibition does a brilliant job of highlighting the skills of individual artists and makers, and providing context as to how these objects were used in their societies. On view through Dec. 30, this acclaimed and engaging exhibition is unique for the viscerally evocative range of art in the service of worship, weddings, weaponry and workmanship. Though most often on an intimate human scale, each individual work in the show is suffused in the latent energy of its former owners and wielders. As you walk the statuary gauntlet, it is impossible not to imagine the hands that not only made but held and struck these remarkable objects. (See more examples in our slideshow.)
Also on view, "World on the Horizon: Swahili Arts Across the Indian Ocean" examines the cultural intersections between and among peoples from the Arabian Peninsula, Asia, Africa and Europe whose trade and migratory routes crisscrossed the Indian Ocean many times over. The word “Swahili” is derived from an Arabic word meaning “coast” and thus refers to an array of coastal port cities where, as is so often the case, trade practices created a multicultural society. Illuminated Qur’ans, intricate and ornately patterned furniture and jewelry in silver, wood and ivory reflect a kind of proto-fusion aesthetic, in which an mashup of stylistic languages produced progressive new forms of design."
— Shana Nys Dambrot, October 30, 2018
This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the LA Weekly website.
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