First Thoughts on African Art and Culture!

This semester I decided to take Arts of Africa to fulfill one of my art history requirements. Out of the many art history classes that the University of Northern Iowa offers I decided to take this class because I have always found the African art and culture to be very interesting. I will admit though, I'm not a big fan of learning about the history of art. It isn't one of my strong subjects and I find art history classes to be quit boring but after the first two weeks in this class, I'm rather interested in learning about the arts of Africa. I have learn so much already about their art and culture.

What I found to be very interesting these past two weeks are that the Western culture perceives African art in a totally different context then the African Americans see it. To the African Americans they see their art pieces as part of their culture and their way of living and not just for the sake of making art or making something look pretty. It seems to me that our Western culture tries to perceive it only as art and nothing else. We don't try to look into the object further because we figure since it's in a museum it is art and that's all there is to it, but there is so much more to that object that sits on a stool in the museum. We should look at that object and wonder why it was made and the context of which it is used in the African culture. Once this is done then you can get a better understanding of the object as a whole. For example if this sculpture of the these two figurines were in a museum. (Picture below)

A Western person would probably think "Oh these are cute figurines of twins," and just look at them and stroll right along to the next item. But there is so much more to the meaning of these two figurines. They are  twin figures that were made because every person is believed to have a spiritual twin in there life. These sculptures represent that twin and are carried around with them. Knowing this information the item because something different then a cute figurine. So, what I'm trying to say is to always ask yourself when looking at art why it was made and the context in which it is used or what it represents. Never just walk by an item and only look at it without asking questions.

I realized that I may have not asked questions before when walking through museums or looking at a culture's art because like many Westerners I had the same view of just thinking it was art and nothing else. But after being in this class for the past two weeks I realized that I have not given full attention to the art that is shown in museums. I can tell I am going to learn a lot from this class because I already have learned so much on how to view art as whole and  to see through another culture's eyes. I can't wait for what else I will learn in this class this semester.

Here are some of my favorite items we learned about these past  two weeks. The Dogon Granaries, which I found interesting because they were segregated by gender and they decorated the doors to each one of the granaries. The doors were decorated with things that had significant meaning or some type of story, which I found to be interesting since the granaries are just there to store food and other things.

above: Dogon Granaries
left: Dogon Granary door















My other item I found interesting is the Asante Stools. I found them intriguing because every person has one and they are symbolic to that person. Then when you die the are painted black and put in the ancestor shrines. I think that's cool because it's something specific to that person and another way to remember a person when they pass away.  Below: Asante Stool