African art curio or craft lecturer Nirvana Romell 6 November 2024
The lecture began with a very useful consideration of what the lecturer and the audience actually knew about African art. Nirvana reflected on the way we had all come to know about European art – through comparing its development over time in relation to other developing art alongside, contextualising it. This is not possible with African art which developed separately unconnected to nearby kingdoms and outside influences so you cannot trace its development through time. Comparison of different examples is not possible. The people of Africa did not move around and share their crafts because of such things as the tsetse fly which caused such devastation of whole nations of people. To study African art you need to consider each area individually and describe the objects found. There is no overall trend – the term African art is non-sensical. It cannot be judged in the same way as European art as it does not conform to the same idea of theme, religion or purpose. There is nevertheless a great deal of material to consider and review. Nirvana then went on to review different objects real or photographs from different areas describing their construction and probable meaning or use. She traced some of the development in certain areas looking at the salt mine areas, the Nok peoples, the Djenna in the 3rd century BC , the Mali from 9th to 13th centuries and the Soni from14th to the17th century. She made good use of maps to locate these people who created wonderful sculptures, textiles, masks. It was a riveting talk awakening a realisation that we really knew very little about the art, crafts and curios in this continent. The following two lectures then continued by examining how to look at the art and how it had influenced modern artists such as Picasso, Matisse and . Giacometti for example. We examined the huge range of masks when and how they were used, the symbolism of the decoration and the mythology surrounding the different animals (lion versus leopard) and the function of the masks. African art is now being produced for the tourist mass market but there is still much to do to record and trace objects.
This was a really excellent day. Nirvana is a superb lecturer and talked naturally without notes, and we were completed mesmerised by her knowledge and enthusiasm. The evaluations were excellent throughout. Everyone really enjoyed the day with an excellent lunch and much discussion. Study or exploration days are going from strength to strength in Teme Valley, where we get to learn more about art out of our norms. If you missed this one, try to catch it in another venue and look out for our next study day, March 12th , on the Art of Cornwall.
Caroline Jamison