African Art

African art is a vast collection and study of artworks that have originated in the continent of Africa. In recent years, this has also been used to describe the artwork of the African Diasporas, as to include areas of the world where African culture, though not native to the land, is an important part of the people’s culture such as found in Brazil, the Caribbean, and the United States. The study of African art is one that encompasses a wide range of different styles, often varying according to particular regions of Africa, tribes, cultures, and civilizations. Though the body of artwork is vast and unique to certain people and locations in Africa, African art as whole is found to have general and unifying themes or characteristics. One that is most common is the emphasis and concentration on the human figure.

For the most part, the human figure has been at the center of all African art. The human figure has been used to depict a wide range of topics, whether living or dead. Often, representations of gods and deities were given the human form so as to give them a certain quality that would not render them completely ethereal and more realistic. In other instances, they simply would represent the people of a particular culture or tribe, depicting various social occupations or trades, such as hunters, warriors, shamans, or chiefs. Another key feature to African art is an overall emphasis on sculpture and three-dimensional artworks. This is evident in the many sculptures and busts used to represent various kings and other important figure-heads of African societies and cultures.

Africa

In more recent times, Africa has been in the news in a different light. Unfortunately, any news regarding Africa tends to concentrate on the negative aspects that the government, people, and culture have suffered throughout past decades because of extreme poverty levels and diseases running rampant throughout the continent. It is no surprise that because of its lack of resources, Africa is constantly being reported in the news as a horrible place to live. However, in a change of tone, recent news having to do with Africa seems to be in a more positive light. South Africa will play host to one of the most widely-viewed sports in all the world and its most prestigious championship event, the World Cup. Soccer–or Football, depending on where you are geographically–is the sport that has the most popularity in nations throughout the world. Save the United States, Soccer is the most participated-in sport, so much so that it is infused with the inherent culture, specifically in Latin America and Europe. Every four years, the World Cup becomes a worldwide event where nations rally behind their home team in a display of patriotism and nationalistic pride. In June of 2010, the World Cup will come to South Africa, hopefully bringing a much needed economic stimulus to the nation, and possibly even the continent itself.

Art: African Masks

African masks play an important role in the various cultures and tribes found throughout the African continent. Generally speaking, African masks are used in intricate religious ceremonies as a way to conjure or communicate with spirits or ancestors. Visually and aesthetically speaking, masks will differ not only from culture to culture, but also in the intended purpose of each mask. Furthermore, African masks will also vary in the types of materials used to construct each individual mask. In many African cultures and tribes, they have an appointed member attributed with the purpose of designing and fabricating the masks. This person is usually referred to as an African tribal artists.

Each tribal artist is expected to perfect specific carving techniques associated with its various social and religious connotations and apply them to each individual mask, depending on the intended purpose of that mask. Typically, a tribal artists learns his skill by becoming an apprentice of the master tribal artists. More often than not, it takes many years for tribal artists to master his art through rigorous training. In many African cultures and societies, the task is passed down from father to son, through generation after generation.

African Rituals

African rituals are complex and many number, which makes studying and understanding them a difficult task. African rituals can all vary depending on a particular tribe or culture, and they all have a specific purpose. Generally speaking, African rituals tend to be religious in their nature. However, religion itself is a concept to apply to African culture simply because that there is no set or determined religious ideology or belief; certain African tribes will have a specific religious ideology or practice that is unique to only them.

Though there is much of a varying degree to religions in African culture, they all will often share common features or ideas. The main commonality has to deal with the fact that they do not differ in their basic idea from other religions found in the rest of the world. Often, there will be one central God-like figure, with other lesser deities and spirits. These deities will often be worshipped through various types of rituals, which may include sacrificial offerings, libation, magic, dancing, drumming, chanting and other rituals that may be indigenous or unique to that particular tribe or religious belief.

Voices from the Edge

A Contested Land

It was the middle of May, just days into the rainy season when we made the trip to Lote 8, one of the dozens of Maya-Q’eqchi’ villages scattered within, and against, the steep and perennially green Sierra de Santa Cruz in far eastern Guatemala. Clouds built and dissipated over the Western Highlands, reaching the lowlands around Lake Izabal and the Polochic River basin in the falling dusk. Then the stagnant heat broke, in storm. In the weeks to come, the rains would increase, scouring the mountains of their red earth, forcing it to the valley below, and eventually out to sea.

Tears from a Grandmother's Story

On a hot spring afternoon, my mother brought my sister and me to visit our grandmother. The three of us were sitting at the kitchen table with our only living grandparent. Such a beautiful afternoon it was, with the sun shining through the windows and onto the clean floor, the Rocky Mountains in the distance, and the hills close by. Surely I couldn’t have asked the Creator for a better day to hear my grandma’s story.

She had been making berry soup from Saskatoon berries that she had frozen from the past summer. We all had already been telling stories of the past. As my sister and I were talking about living in the city, laughing and having fun with the time we were sharing with our grandma, I asked her, “Mom, what was it like when you were a child?” I call my grandma “Mom” because of how much she is like my own mother.

“Well, my son. It was a difficult time,” she said. Immediately I knew she was talking about when she had to leave home to attend boarding school. “What kind of difficult time, Grandma?” asked my sister, who had no idea of the troubling time of colonization and boarding school. “When I and my brothers and sisters had to move away from our family to attend residential school,” Grandma replied. Looking a bit uneasy, she got up from her chair to tend to her soup. “But I won’t bore you with my old depressing past,” Grandma said.