BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Natl Museum of African Art -- Exhibit: Heroes: Principles of African Greatness

DC -- Natl Museum of African Art -- Exhibit: Heroes: Principles of African Greatness:

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Description of Pictures: Heroes: Principles of African Greatness
November 16, 2019 – TBA
Through art, artists tell stories—stories of the world's current complexity, but also visions of a world that could yet be. Heroes features a selection of masterworks from the the museum's permanent collection in a new, dynamic installation that tells the story of key heroic principles and people in Africa’s arts and history.
The exhibition invites visitors to consider the core values of leadership —justice, integrity, generosity, and empathy among them—embodied in selected art works. Each work is paired by way of a digital overlay with a specific historic African person(s) who embodied the thematic value realized in a given work, offering a greater depth of accessibility and historical specificity to the stories our galleries offer our visitors. It expresses the museum’s commitment to the dignity, complexity, and universally accessible excellence of African art history and to the telling of unique, compelling, and specific historical African stories.

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. HEROES_191128_012.JPG: Witness. Paa Joe documents a building that beheld a depraved and dreadful history. Forts at Anomabu traded hands between the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and, finally, Britain from the mid-17th century. Of all the European forts built on what was then termed the Gold Coast, Fort William was one of the only to have a prison purposely built within its walls to hold enslaved peoples awaiting transport for forced labor in the Americas. The fort was the center of the British market in captured peoples until the trade was outlawed in 1807. Paa Joe is one of the best-known and prolific innovators of a new art form that has developed on the outskirts of Accra in the last half century -- "fantasy coffins," sculpted in a wide variety of forms that memorialize their future residents' key accomplishments in life. In the style of these coffins, Paa Joe created a series of architectural models of Ghana's coastal forts -- global sites of memory, conscience, and loss.
2. HEROES_191128_023.JPG: Resistant. Images like this once inspired defiance to French rule in Senegal. Sheikh Amadou Bamba stands in the center, in a white robe and turban. A Sufi saint, poet, and teacher, he led a pacifist resistance against the French colonial administration. As a founder of the influential Mouride movement, one of four mystical Sufi groups within Islam, Bamba's image was considered so potent -- by both his followers, who believe it conveys blessings, and by the French, who feared it as a rallying point of resistance -- that it was once banned in the colony. The image is based on the only surviving photograph of Bamba before his exile to Gabon and Mauritania. During his banishment (1895–1907), his teachings and influence spread, as did stories of his supernatural powers -- from an ability to lay his prayer mat on the ocean waves to fighting monsters and receiving guidance from the archangel Gabriel.
3. HEROES_191128_031.JPG: Heroes. Principles of African Greatness BE YOUR BEST. This is the quest that the greatest of heroes model for us. Through their journeys, struggles, and triumphs, exceptional individuals exemplify values that we celebrate in tales of heroic accomplishment -- Epics that outlast heroes themselves. Africa's history abounds with such tales. Through art, artists tell such stories--stark stories of the world's current complexity, but also hopeful visions of a world that could yet be. HEROES features artworks from the National Museum of African Art's permanent collection that tell the story of key heroic principles and personages in Africa's arts and history. Consider the core values of leadership -- Justice, Integrity, Generosity, and Empathy among them-- and types of leaders represented in the works on view. Each artwork is paired with a specific historic African individual who embodies the features value expressed in the selected work. As you discover Africa's heroes -- some well-known, others perhaps surprising -- contemplate new ways to see art. Heroes Embraces the national museum of African Art's commitment to the dignity, complexity, and universally accessible excellence of African art history, and to the telling of unique, compelling, and specific historical African stories. The Artists and heroes assembled here invite us to imagine our roles in building a new future.
4. HEROES_191128_040.JPG: Pride. A member of the "born-free generation," Dada Khanyisa creates a range of works -- from sneakers and graphic art to paintings -- intimately connected to South African politics and popular culture. Dada self-identifies as gender nonconforming and has also produced work under the name The Mighty Whale. In AMA #WCW, six young women are at a nightclub or restaurant enjoying cocktails, cigarettes, and chicken. But, most importantly, almost everyone is close to their smartphones. Three women are taking selfies; three other phones are actually embedded on the surface of the table, adding to the sculptural depth of a painting with hair extensions, jewelry, and fabric appended to its surface. An isiZulu caption sits in the foreground alongside the Instagram-style "tagging" of one of the women in the image. The painting takes on the look of an Instagram post -- even as further posts are likely being framed and composed on other smartphones at the very moment the painting depicts. Its title recalls multiple acronyms regularly used on social media -- "#AMA," or "ask me anything," and "#WCW" or "Woman Crush Wednesday."
5. HEROES_191128_046.JPG: Stylish. She sees you -- and celebrates you -- for bringing your best self. Nontsikelelo "Lolo" Veleko's series entitled Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder (2005–ongoing) presents compelling photographic portraits that document the innovative street fashion scene among the young people of South Africa's cities. The creative, individual styles sported by her subjects demonstrate a confident sense of beauty and optimism that counter perceptions of South Africa's urban neighborhoods as beset solely by crime and poverty. Through Veleko's lens, we see "sartorial success" stories about stylish young people "following their own creativity and casting aside all the rules." Here, a young man stands on an empty, city street. He is stylishly attired in bright orange-red pants, a light blue short-sleeved shirt, striped tie, hat, and black-and-white shoes. Through his sunglasses, he looks confidently ahead.
6. HEROES_191128_057.JPG: Empathy. The ability to understand and share the feelings of another may be the most challenging heroic power. South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) offered a radically new approach to human rights violations, promoting restorative justice in the form of reconciliation over retribution. To achieve the amnesty offered to those who confessed their crimes and sought forgiveness, however, the TRC first had to unearth some truly chilling evils. This assemblage refers to two cases brought before the TRC. Using images taken from newspapers, Williamson intended the prints to appear "as they might perhaps be displayed in a courtroom for the information of the jury." Eugene de Kock, a police commander known as "Prime Evil," was reputed to be the apartheid state's most efficient killer, responsible for the death of numerous activists. De Kock asked to testify before the TRC in the hope that he would be pardoned, but spoke instead without remorse. Images of a pig's head in the second line symbolize the victim of a bombing for which de Kock was responsible. In an experiment, a bomb placed in a cassette recorder blew up a pig's head; a similar bomb killed human rights lawyer Bheki Mlangeni. De Kock was convicted on 89 charges and sentenced to 212 years in prison. Poison Victim tells the story of activist Sipho Mtimkulu, who was arrested for distributing pamphlets. Fed rat poison while in jail, he was hospitalized after his release and recovered. The second line of images shows a jubilant Mtimkulu going home to a hero's welcome -- only to disappear soon thereafter, and never be seen again.
7. HEROES_191128_066.JPG: Flawed. How could the "Mother of the Nation" have done that? An activist in her own right -- and the global face of resistance to apartheid during her then-husband Nelson Mandela's 27 years in prison -- Winnie Mandela's reputation never recovered from the stories that arose about her through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). In the words of the South African artist, Sue Williamson: "Although [the TRC] was undeniably an essential process in beginning the healing of the country, the ‘truth' proved elusive. One of the most poignant hearings involved that of Winnie Mandela . . . The killing of a young teen [Stompie Seipei] in December 1988 at the hands of the Mandela United Football Club [her bodyguards] brought her reputation into disrepute. Dr. Abu Baker Asvat was a beloved Soweto doctor who was assassinated by two men in his office in January 1989. Many believed he was killed because he refused to supply false medical records clearing Winnie Mandela of involvement in the death of Seipei, whom Mandela accused of being a police informer." The lithograph depicts the confusing and sometimes contradictory testimonies surrounding Winnie Mandela. Williamson adds: "If it is confusing to the viewer, [it was also so for] the nation's audiences who in the face of Winnie Mandela's denials were left to make up their own minds. I was attempting ... simultaneously to present the drama of the historic moment of confrontation with the confusion left behind."
8. HEROES_191128_076.JPG: Feminist. The very existence of this sculpture is a feminist act. Born in a Kalabari community in which women have historically been prohibited from sculpting in wood and metal, Sokari Douglas Camp has taken up her welder's torch as an artist in calm defiance of such restrictions. Douglas Camp's large, semiabstract, often kinetic, figurative works have been inspired by the sounds, movements, and colors of both communities to which she belongs -- African expatriates living and working in London, and Kalabari society in the Niger Delta. This clapping figure recalls the coming-of-age ceremony (iriabo) that initiates Kalabari girls into womanhood. When presented to the community, the initiates are typically dressed in valuable cloth wrappers and adorned with coral beads and necklaces. Small Iriabo (Clapping Girl) claps her hands as though preparing the way for a major event.
9. HEROES_191128_093.JPG: Sustaining. She is a vision of goodness -- a protector, a nourisher, a provider. Cradling her child in her arms while focused on a distant goal in the future, she sits upright adorned with attributes of Kongo leadership -- including a chief's knotted hat -- and beauty, bearing elaborate scarified tattoos, filed teeth, and a smooth, serene composure. This figure likely served as a phemba, an icon associated with Kongo religious groups focused on healing and motherhood, particularly during periods in the 18th and 19th centuries when the trade in enslaved peoples on the coast was at its most disruptive. Collected before 1914, this figure is one of six known examples in this particular style, attributed to an as-yet-unnamed master artist.
10. HEROES_191128_101.JPG: Collective. Nearly 20 million everyday South Africans shape their country's future. Kay Hassan used scraps from a billboard located near his studio to create this image of citizens of all colors and creeds anxiously waiting in in April 1994 line to cast their first vote, after the last of the apartheid laws were repealed, to create a democratic national government charged with writing a new constitution. The African National Congress (ANC) won 62 percent of the vote and formed a government of national unity with the Inkhata Freedom Party and the former ruling National Party. Hassan's use of everyday recycled materials recalls earlier South African's graffiti and poster arts, which afforded artists an inexpensive means for artistic creativity and for protesting the government's oppressive policies during apartheid.
11. HEROES_191128_113.JPG: Matriarch. Yoruba mothers are not to be messed with. Women of a certain age in Yoruba communities, often market traders and people of considerable authority and referred to as �wọn �y� wa (our mothers), were historically considered to have great capacity -- for good, or otherwise. Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ developed as a masquerade to honor and soothe these powerful women. Performed by men, Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ always depicts women, often with elaborate superstructures placed above conventionally stylized faces. This mask is one of four identified as being by the same individual, an unidentified artist from the Anago region of Benin. The distinctive arrangement and size of the features are consistent with characteristics of this master, as are the flat-topped, rectangular ear, the profile of the eyelids, and the precise, triangular chip carving.
12. HEROES_191128_122.JPG: Benevolent. The embodiment of generosity. Potentially functional, this spoon was also a personal monument to a woman celebrated in her community for her capacity for openness and philanthropy. Both Dan and W� communities honored women who held the distinction of providing not only for her own household, but also for unexpected visitors, traveling musicians, and seasonal farm workers. The emblem of her achievement became a specially commissioned spoon that may have also served as a generalized portrait of the owner. Such spoons were trophies of a woman's capacity, quite literally, to bring her community together.
13. HEROES_191128_125.JPG: ??? Accomplished. Potentially functional, this spoon was also a personal monument to a woman celebrated in her community for her capacity for openness and philanthropy. Both Dan and W� communities honored women who held the distinction of providing not only for her own household, but also for unexpected visitors, traveling musicians, and seasonal farm workers. The emblem of her achievement became a specially commissioned spoon that may have also served as a generalized portrait of the owner. Such spoons were trophies of a woman's capacity, quite literally, to bring her community together.
14. HEROES_191128_131.JPG: Beauty. She'll tease you. She may unease you. She is the very embodiment of grace and charm. This serene, show-stopping masterwork is the epitome of youthful feminine beauty. The mask represents a beautiful young woman adorned with tattoos, earrings, and an elaborate coiffure. Historically, Chokwe communities organized pwo to dance in honor of the founding female ancestor of a particular family's lineage. A male dancer would be dressed like a woman in a costume of braided fiber that completely covers his body and hid his identity. In the dance, he wears a loincloth, carries a fan, and moves in slow, precise steps to emulate a graceful young woman. Celebrating her beauty, pwo also honors the dignity and moral worth of a well-respected family.
15. HEROES_191128_142.JPG: Liberty. This work rises in the center of Heroes as the museum's own Statue of Liberty. A black liberation leader stands holding out his hand, staring into an as-yet-unrealized future, as a formerly enslaved woman rises. Ousmane Sow created this work as part of a series of sculptures commemorating the bicentennial of the French Revolution. Unlike those sculptures, however, Toussaint Louverture depicts a figure who actually struggled against the French state, taking on the mantle of the original revolutionary principles surrendered by that point back in Paris to the authoritarian rule of Napoleon. The military leader of the Haitian Revolution, Louverture successfully channeled an uprising of free people of color and, later, enslaved people, into an armed movement that, by 1800, had ended both slavery and French rule on the island. Louverture became the head of the Western Hemisphere's second independent revolutionary state -- and its first leader of African descent..
16. HEROES_191128_164.JPG: Revolutionary. He changed it all. While the stones of Robben Island brutalized his body, Mandela also used them as a site to expand the mind. Mandela was forced to work daily in a limestone quarry, where the searing glare from the white stones eventually damaged his eyesight. On the island, Mandela was almost wholly cut off physically from the outside world. Yet, using texts smuggled in from the mainland, he established "The University," through which the prisoners taught a range of subjects -- including art -- to each other. Despite his decades of internal exile, the memory of Mandela -- the lawyer, the activist organizer of civil disobedience campaigns, the militant leader of the armed struggle, the imprisoned martyr -- lived on in South Africans' imaginations. Upon his release, the political platform that those decades of memories provided helped to lift Mandela into the negotiations to establish democracy in South Africa -- and, eventually, into the presidency itself. This work, created by Mandela upon a return visit to Robben Island after leaving power in 1999, is a part of a series he created reflecting upon scenes of his homeland and memories of the struggle that transformed it. Lime quarry on Robben Island. The pile of stones was created by Nelson Mandela and other ex-political prisoners upon their return. The cave (on left) is where prisoners were able to speak in private. Unidentified photographer, Nov. 28, 2013
17. HEROES_191128_175.JPG: Nelson Mandela: 11 Jun 1964 - 11 Feb 1990 (9377 days)
18. HEROES_191128_178.JPG: Ahmed Kathrada: 11 Jun 1964 - 15 Oct 1989 (9269 days)
19. HEROES_191128_182.JPG: Walter Sisulu: 11 Jun 1964 - 15 Oct 1989 (9269 days)
20. HEROES_191128_186.JPG: Raymond Mhlaba: 11 Jun 1964 - 15 Oct 1989 (9269 days)
21. HEROES_191128_190.JPG: Elias Motsoaledi: 11 Jun 1964 - 15 Oct 1969 (9269 days)
22. HEROES_191128_206.JPG: Andrew Mlangeni: 11 Jun 1964 - 15 Oct 1989 (9269 days)
23. HEROES_191128_211.JPG: Dennis Goldberg: 11 Jun 1964 - 28 Feb 1985 (7568 days)
24. HEROES_191128_214.JPG: Sacrifice. They gave the best years of their lives to the struggle. Prison Sentences reflects upon the marking and passing of time -- here, the jail time served by some of South Africa's most notable apartheid-era political prisoners. Each tablet is inscribed with the days, weeks, months, and years served by Nelson Mandela and seven other political prisoners who were initially sentenced to life imprisonment at the close of the Rivonia Trial held in June 1964. Of the work, Willem Boshoff has said: "The word 'sentence' refers to the term a prisoner serves, but it also denotes a grammatical whole with . . . an ending. Naming the work Prison Sentences alluded to the second meaning, the idea that one would expect a sentence to end. I wanted to evoke . . . a meditative quality arising from . . . counting days and passing time, to the point at which you lose yourself completely . . . Black granite is the material of a graveyard [and of] memorials. Each panel is reflective, so you see yourself in it."
25. HEROES_191128_244.JPG: Illustrious. illustrious This queen's fame stands the test of time. According to the Kebra Nagast (The Glory of the Kings), a 14th-century recounting in Ge'ez of the Ethiopian royal line, Queen Makeda, ruler of the realm, traveled to Jerusalem in the 10th century B.C.E. to witness the fabled wisdom of King Solomon. While there, she bore a son by Solomon. As a young adult, her son Menelik returned to Jerusalem to meet his father. Upon coming home, Menelik founded Ethiopia's Solomonic dynasty (through which descent was traced until Emperor Haile Selassie's abdication in 1974) and is credited with bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia. The importance of Queen Makeda to Ethiopia's history may be inversely proportional to the historically verifiable facts known about her -- making her, at least, a true legend in every sense of the word.
26. HEROES_191128_250.JPG: Resolute. Dateline: March 1, 1896. An African army wins its most resounding and lasting victory against colonialism. As morning rose to noon that day, Ethiopian forces under Emperor Menelik II defeated an invading Italian army at the Battle of Adwa. In so doing, they prevented the imposition of colonial rule. Adwa became a symbol of resistance to colonial oppression across Africa and its diaspora. Solomon Belachew -- an artist renowned for depicting religious scenes -- captured the ferocity of battle in the painting above/below through his use of opposing diagonal lines, suggesting action between the two opposing sides, and his depiction of blood-spattered and decapitated Italian soldiers. Consistent with artistic conventions governing Ethiopian religious painting, Belachew depicts the righteous Ethiopians as full-faced figures, while the forces of evil (the Italians, in this case) are shown largely in profile. Because the Battle of Adwa fell on March 1, St. George's Day, the popular saint is depicted astride a horse and ready for battle as he descends from the sky. Paintings of the Battle of Adwa remain popular diplomatic gifts that the Ethiopian government has presented to visiting dignitaries and foreign diplomats stationed in the country. The message seems clear: "we remain unbowed."
27. HEROES_191128_281.JPG: Pious. Christianity is deep into its second millennium as an African religion. Historically home to followers of all three major monotheistic religions -- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- Ethiopia's Coptic Church (c. 331–340 C.E.) nevertheless predates even Rome (380 C.E.) as a state religion. This masterful 17th-century diptych icon is a highly charged devotional work, depicting multiple moments in the life of Jesus and the Holy Family. The artist, working in what is known as the Early Gondarene style, situates these figures in a world of Ethiopian references: Mary spinning thread seated on a three-legged stool, genna (Ethiopian field hockey), the style of the three yellow crowns, the lidded food basket on Salome's head, and the depiction of the Temple in Jerusalem as a miniature Ethiopian church. Scenes depicted include: (left, from top), the Annunciation and visitation of Elizabeth (L) to Mary (R), Jesus asleep in the manger, boys playing genna, and the Magi delivering a gift to Jesus; (right, from top), Mary entering the Temple, the flight to Egypt with Joseph and Salome, the death of Mary, and Mary's Assumption into heaven. An object of veneration and devotion, this icon partook in Ethiopia's long, ongoing history of pious participation in the Christian world.
28. HEROES_191128_291.JPG: Righteous. They are made to be looked up to. These two sentries stand as virtuous, upright, and beautiful representations of key Hemba leaders, since passed. Each figure was commissioned by Hemba leaders as portraits of a remembered and venerated male predecessor. Instead of portraying these men directly, however, these sculptures may instead be considered "moral portraits" -- dignified, serene, strong, and contained. They embody the physical and ethical ideals of leadership for a typical late 19th century Hemba community.
29. HEROES_191128_327.JPG: Legendary. They fought against the ravages of time -- and won. Low-fired ceramic figures and fragments such as these have been unearthed since the 1940s at various sites throughout the Inland Niger Delta region, an area that once had highly developed cities. These works are among the earliest known surviving art forms in sub-Saharan Africa. By the 15th or 16th century, environmental and political events caused the urban centers of the Delta region to be abandoned, and the art tradition did not survive. The earliest known written reference to such figures is found in a letter of 1447. In it, a visiting Italian merchant remarked that the figures were kept in sanctuaries and venerated as representing the deified ancestors of famous founding rulers of the region. The elaborate dress of the figures suggests ceremonial military attire, and they may represent warriors who were once allies of the Malian emperor Sundiata Keita (c. 1217–1255). Don't cross this woman warrior. The rider wears a hat like those worn by other important persons in the Mande world, including hunters, ritual specialists, and the praise singers and historians known as griots. The portrayal of a female rider, in particular, recalls those women who acquired power and earned respect through force of character or ability as a sorcerer and are affiliated with hunters' associations. The horse suggests the historical memory of the powerful cavalry that dominated Mali for centuries. Such staffs were displayed on special occasions to commemorate ancestors or placed near areas sacred to powerful Bamana religious groups. This sculpture was once part of a longer iron staff, likely carried by a Bamana chief.
30. HEROES_191128_341.JPG: Ta-Nehisi Coates b. 1975, Baltimore Works in Brooklyn Black Panther Illustrations by Brian Stelfreeze 2016–ongoing; published in New York by Marvel Worldwide
31. HEROES_191128_349.JPG: Superpowers. The king has company. In the once narrow world of comic book publishing, Marvel's King T'Challa from Black Panther appeared to stand alone as the only widely recognized African superhero in the industry. Today, however, while T'Challa has been reinvigorated by a new set of stories written by Ta-Nehisi Coates and global film releases, he also has an increasing number of continental compatriots as African comics and graphic novels flourish. Each of these works invites readers to imagine the possibilities of new, Africa-centered futures.
32. HEROES_191128_352.JPG: Ananiya the revolutionist is a 17-year old black female resistance fighter in the army for the restoration of womanhood; she fights against a corporate government that has introduced sex robots capable of replacing the need for female humans.
33. HEROES_191128_354.JPG: Milumbe Haimbe b. 1974, Lusaka, Zambia Works in Toronto Ananiya the Revolutionist 2013–ongoing Exhibition prints Courtesy of the artist Ananiya the Revolutionist is a 17-year old black female resistance fighter in the Army for the Restoration of Womanhood; she fights against a corporate government that has introduced sex robots capable of replacing the need for female humans.
34. HEROES_191128_369.JPG: Loyiso Mkize b. 1987, Butterworth, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa Works in Cape Town, South Africa Kwezi 2016; published in Cape Town by David Philip Publishers Warren M. Robbins Library, National Museum of African Art Kwezi tells the story of a young, city-dwelling South African superhero challenged to use his great powers for the greater good.
35. HEROES_191128_375.JPG: Keziah Jones b. 1968, Lagos, Nigeria Works in Lagos Captain Rugged 2013; published in Bologna, Italy, by Damiani Warren M. Robbins Library, National Museum of African Art Captain Rugged is a Lagos-based superhero fighting greedy local and multinational corporate interests that threaten the city's disempowered.
36. HEROES_191128_381.JPG: Jiba Molei Anderson b. 1972, Detroit Works in Chicago Horsemen: The Book of Olorun 2010; published in Chicago by Griot Enterprises Warren M. Robbins Library, National Museum of African Art Horsemen traces the return of the Orishas, Yoruba gods, to help humanity face current dangers.
37. HEROES_191128_386.JPG: Alastair Brauns Works in Cape Town Crimson 2013; published in Cape Town, South Africa by Tank21 Creative Warren M. Robbins Library, National Museum of African Art Crimson focuses on a young woman in South Africa making use of extraordinary abilities to tackle threats, both human and cyborg.
38. HEROES_191128_396.JPG: Malevolent. Every hero story needs a villain. Apartheid-era South Africa standardized a villainous logic. At first glance, the piece almost looks like a stage set. Look closely and elements of a clinical workspace emerge. This is a space in which we may imagine ourselves -- as technician, or subject. "I am sometimes tempted to go to the seaside and to paint beautiful things from nature," Willie Bester has said. "But I do not do it because my art has to be taken as a nasty medicine for awakening consciousness." Filled with sharp edges and menacing contraptions, Apartheid Laboratory appears to be a vision of a particularly "nasty medicine," indeed. Bester's focus is on apartheid-era South Africa and its systems of racial classifications and their unfounded claims to scientific legitimacy and racial superiority. The work centers on seven small dolls, labeled with the seven racial categories recognized by South Africa's government at the time -- "White," "Cape Coloured," "Malay," "Griqua," "Chinese," "Indian," and "Other Asian." Black South Africans were legally excluded and instead designated residents of "Bantustans," territorial reservations that were politically designed to remove black claims to full citizenship. Apartheid in South Africa ended in 1994. Yet, as a stage set upon which anyone may seemingly enter, Bester cautions us through this work to remain awake to how menacingly present such pretensions to difference can continue to be. Oppressive systems, he notes, can be built from the most mundane, and ugly, of materials.
39. HEROES_191128_412.JPG: Indigeneity. Belonging to the land. This unusual Ogoni mask, which appears to blend human and animal features, may in fact be a statement about the rootedness of Ogoni peoples to the land itself. Ogoni peoples are perhaps the oldest settlers of the Eastern Niger Delta, living south of Igbo settlements, west of Ibibio communities, and just inland from Obolo and Ijaw villages near the Atlantic coast. Forms of Ogoni face masks range from human with a movable jaw to a horned antelope to this, the rarest kind of all -- a blend of human and horned creature. Men and boys dance in these masks and add vigorous acrobatic movements. Historically, masks were worn in ritual performances for funerals and when yams were planted and harvested. More recently they appear at Christmas and New Year celebrations and to welcome important visitors.
40. HEROES_191128_419.JPG: Woke. "The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed." -- Steve Biko Imprisoned himself under apartheid for loitering, the artist Willie Bester memorializes the history of harassment and oppression in South Africa's black settlements. The Notorious Green Car's mesh window screen recalls police vehicles used to patrol and terrorize black settlements. Bester created this large-scale, bright conceptual work to keep the memory of such oppression alive.
41. HEROES_191128_439.JPG: Renewed. This type of mask is worn during the Ododua ceremony, which protects the oba (king) and commemorates the founding of the Benin kingdom. The cone shape references a special fiber cap worn by certain priests, chiefs, and the oba. The deadly snakes and crocodiles refer to dangerous spiritual forces that are controlled by ritual specialists and the king. Unique to this mask are the small fish seen in relief under the lips and on the sides of the mask. They represent fish used as sacrificial offerings to the "gods of the Benin nation" at a palace shrine. Named for the creator deity the Benin kingdom shares with Yoruba religion, this mask danced an origin story about the Benin kingdom's founding -- and about the centrality of the royal house to that history.
42. HEROES_191128_445.JPG: Inspiring. He led a new generation into higher education and leadership. Tom Mboya -- already accomplished, at the age of 28, as the leader of a workers' union and for his assumption of the mantle of Kenya's nascent independence party, the Kenya African National Union (KANU)- -- met with then-Senator John F. Kennedy in 1959 to promote a campaign to bring hundreds of Kenyan students to the United States for higher education. The effort already had the support of individuals like Jackie Robinson, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Convinced by Mboya's vision of the need to train a new generation of post-colonial leaders, the Kennedy Family Foundation agreed to fund the early "airlifts." Over 800 students -- including future leaders like Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai -- studied and traveled in the United States from 1959 until 1963, the year of Kenya's independence. Inspired by the first airlift, Barack Obama, Sr. won a related scholarship to pursue graduate studies at the University of Hawaii in 1959. Graduating at the top of his class, he met and married American student Ann Dunham. Their son, Barack H. Obama, Jr. was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961.
43. HEROES_191128_452.JPG: Victorious. Hail, the conquering hero! This masterpiece has an unusually emotional expression that may be associated with the personal style of Bvu Kwam, an early 19th-century master sculptor working in the Grassfields region. According to one field informant, the figure is of King Bay Akiy, the fourth ruler of the Isu kingdom, who reigned in the late 18th century. Depicted returning from victory over the Nshe, a neighboring group, he is seated on a dangerous animal, probably a leopard, and holds a weapon and a head. This pose relates to a regional tradition of representing personal achievement, though the identity of the head itself is uncertain -- it could be a defeated enemy, or the revered skull of a local ancestor.
44. HEROES_191128_465.JPG: Creator. In the human realm, it started with him. This figure probably represented an Igbo community's founding ancestor and was one of a large number of monumental figures kept in the men's meetinghouse to guard private areas from intrusion. It likely was part of a group that included the founding ancestor's wife and other members of the village, such as warriors and hunters. Besides its monumental size, its most striking feature is the broad, bold use of color that reinforces the strength of the carving. Typically, such figures are sculpted by Igbo men and painted by women. This figure could be said to embody and honor the generative, creative capacity of a revered predecessor.
45. HEROES_191128_471.JPG: Strong. She can push farther, bound higher, see deeper than us. Indeed, this female figure may represent an Urhobo edjo, or spirit -- one manifestation of singular and collective forces that exist throughout the world. A Urhobo community may have several different kinds of edjos, although one may be recognized as the town's primary spirit. Wood sculptures are the physical manifestations of these spirits. A single shrine building (oguan redjo) may contain a dozen carved edjo figures presided over by an elaborate hierarchy of titled priests and priestesses.
46. HEROES_191128_479.JPG: Voices. Theirs were the inescapable voices of Egyptian possibilities. He was the voice of Egypt's political future, the military officer who helped overthrow the monarchy, led Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970, nationalized the Suez Canal from British and French interests, and became an icon, however fleetingly, of secular pan-Arab nationalism. At the height of the Cold War, Gamal Abdel Nasser promoted a political philosophy of nonalignment and solidarity among formerly colonized peoples. The illustrations surrounding Nasser reflect memories of his regime. Transistor radios depict Nasser's favorite method of disseminating propaganda; working women and factories, the rise of Egyptian industry; and "No Photo" signs, warnings of spies. While Nasser himself was subject to the many failings of charismatic, one-man rule, his image and voice nevertheless became an inescapable icon, in Egypt and beyond. She was perhaps his only true rival on the mid-century radio. "The Voice," not just of Egypt, but of the entire Arab-speaking world, Om Kalsoum was one of the 20th century's most celebrated vocal artists. Her supreme talent, musical virtuosity, and glamour made her a global celebrity, as she interpreted modern and classical Arab verse through improvisation and vocal stylization. For the artist Chant Avedissian, with an interest in the iconic images of Egyptian history, Nasser's and Kalsoum's pharaonic cultural influences filled his eyes -- and ears.
47. HEROES_191128_506.JPG: Honor. Great accomplishments merit monuments that outlast us. This terracotta head commemorated a member of a royal family who lived in what is now south-central Ghana. Such sculptures did not adorn graves, but were kept in a grove known as the asensie, or "the place of the pots," located outside of town. Although regarded as portraits, the clay heads are a stylized resemblance of the departed, incorporating some specific trait(s) such as hairstyle, beard, or pierced ears. In this case, the raised ornamentation on the face depicts scarification, while the protruding knobs further back on the head suggest a traditional coiffure of the late 19th century. This was likely the work of an accomplished female Akan artist.
48. HEROES_191128_510.JPG: Constant. Those eyes see all -- through generations past, present, and future. The byeri religious practice of the Fang served to honor a family's ancestors and ask for their help. Memorialized ancestors' names and deeds were recited in byeri practice, and physical relics were stored in a bark wood box guarded by an attached, carved wooden head or figure. This head -- with its prominent forehead, open relentless gaze, small mouth, and older style hairdo or wig -- was not an individual portrait but an idealized representation. The characteristic shine results from frequent rubbing with tree oil. This guardian stood for the continued presence of ancestral memories among a people forced to migrate throughout the 19th century.
49. HEROES_191128_524.JPG: Organizers. They came. They saw. They organized. Before he was globally celebrated for his works in found metal, El Anatsui first pursued sculptural forms in ceramics and found wood. He notes, "I look at textures of my work in process and I think about the texture and grain of Africa's history; I look at the authentic colors of the different types of wood and they remind me of the real colors of history." The Ancestors Converged Again is a relatively rare example of figurative art in wood from this Ghanaian master. Using the expressive forms of the wood he gathered, Anatsui transforms scraps into embodiments of once-distant, now-present spiritual and historical figures through minimal sculptural interventions and the process of ordering and re-ordering his sculptures. Eyes wide, taking in the troubled current moment in which they have been called together, these ancestors confer -- and plan their response.
50. HEROES_191128_545.JPG: Dignity. She dances and sings her own truth, with poise and pride. Ben Enwonwu is arguably one of 20th-century Africa's most important and influential artists. Recognized worldwide for his modernist examinations of Nigerian and pan-African ideas and images by mid-century, his work came to represent African self-determination, innovation, and excellence in an era in which the continent was finally regaining its sovereignty. The Africa Dances series, begun in 1949 as a response to performances observed in his home city of Onitsha, became a subject to which Enwonwu would return throughout his career. In the series of sculptures made between 1980 and 1984, the artist isolated each figure in space, imbuing their features with a liquid flow that captured the essence of a body in motion. This piece is a cold-cast resin predecessor to a 1982 bronze casting of Africa Dances. Identical in form to the later bronze, the cold-cast resin version was likely cast, because of its material, by the artist himself. Enwonwu also likely painted the surface of this piece in order to understand how the light would play across its form.
51. HEROES_191128_555.JPG: Independent. Strike a fashionable blow for freedom This work features the official portrait of Kwame Nkrumah, the first leader of independent Ghana. Although Nkrumah was not Asante, he chose to wear the red, yellow, and green colors -- associated with both Asante kente cloth, worn widely in Ghana, and with unconquered Ethiopia -- as a symbol of his leadership and pan-African pride. European traders introduced factory-printed cloths to African markets in the 19th century. Early fabrics were based on Indonesian batiks. As advancements in photographic reproduction developed, portraits began to appear on cloth. Known as "fancy" cloths, these printed textiles became very popular in the 1950s and 1960s, when many African nations attained independence, and remain important historical documents of an era filled with new possibilities. Due to the light sensitivity of fabric, the selections in this case will be rotated with works depicting further African independence leaders approximately every six months.
52. HEROES_191128_573.JPG: Ally. The fashion for Pan-African solidarity endures. Sotiba, a textile manufacturer in Dakar, Senegal, made several versions -- some with gold, some without -- of this fancy cloth with a photographic engraving of American activist Malcolm X. It has been suggested that this version may have been intended for the foreign market because its gold turns black when worn in Senegal's hot, humid climate. Moreover, cloth is often bought to save -- like an insurance policy or a long-term savings certificate -- rather than to be cut up and worn. Due to the light sensitivity of fabric, the selections in this case will be rotated with works depicting further African independence leaders approximately every six months.
53. HEROES_191128_591.JPG: Heroes Principles of African Greatness "A person is a person because [they] recognize others as persons." -- Desmond Tutu, upon his election to Archbishop of Cape Town "There is no story that is not true." -- Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart Be your best. This is the quest that the greatest of heroes model for us. Through their journeys, struggles, and triumphs, exceptional individuals exemplify values that we celebrate in tales of heroic accomplishment -- epics that outlast heroes themselves. Africa's history abounds with such tales. Through art, artists tell such stories -- stories of the world's current complexity, but also visions of a world that could yet be. Heroes features a selection of permanent-collection works from the National Museum of African Art that tell the story of key heroic principles and personages in Africa's arts and history. Consider the core values of leadership -- justice, integrity, generosity, and empathy among them -- and the types of leaders represented in the works on view here. You will find that each artwork is also paired with a specific historic African person who embodies the value expressed in the selected work. In Heroes you are invited to discover a wide range of Africa's heroes -- some well-known, others perhaps surprising -- and to see art works in new ways. Heroes expresses the National Museum of African Art's commitment to the dignity, complexity, and universally accessible excellence of African art history, and to the telling of unique, compelling, and specific historical African stories. The artists assembled here invite us to imagine our roles in building a new future.
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2019 photos: Overnight trips this year: (May, August, October, December) Four trips to New York City (including the United Nations, Flushing, and the New York Comic-Con), (July) My 14th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con (including sites in Utah). (August) Massachusetts (Boston, Stockbridge, and Springfield) to experie/nce rain in another state, and (August) Asheville, NC to visit Dad and his wife Dixie. Equipment this year: I continued to use my Fuji XS-1 cameras but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000. Number of photos taken this year: about 582,000.
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