Register

African Art: 21st Century Photography on Zoom

Spend an afternoon learning about the wonders of African Art! Jean Borgatti, Consulting Curator at the Fitchburg Art Museum, will delve in to a different aspect of African Art each month.

This talk looks at photography currently on exhibit at the Fitchburg Art Museum, Africa Rising, as well as Studio Portraiture.

Names that will become familiar: Seydou Keita, Malik Sidibé, Zanele Muhole, Aida Muluneh, George Osodi, Wilfred Ukpong, Omar Victor Diop, Heather Agyepong, Lina Iris Viktor, Cyrus Kabiru, Maurice Mbikeye, Tamary Kudita, and Sethembile Msezane. These are only a few of the photographers whose work is represented in the exhibition.

Image note: Senegalese photographer Victor Diop has become known for his self-portraits adapted from historical European artworks featuring distinguished Africans. His Dom Miguel De Castro is based on a 1643 portrayal of a central African envoy sent to the Dutch Republic on a diplomatic mission. The image draws attention to Africans neglected in European history, while the inclusion of soccer gloves suggests parallels between those forgotten men of distinction and today’s sports heroes. Both gained glory and recognition but still face the challenge of being “other.”

Register for one or all of the talks in this series:

• Sept. 8 - 21st Century African Photography
• Oct. 13 - African Art in the medieval world--1000-1600 CE: The Trans-Saharan trade, Igbo-Ukwu, Ife, Benin, Djenné, Lalibela, Great Zimbabwe
• Nov. 10 - African Art and the West –From Curiosity Cabinet to the Museum and the Development of Modernism (e.g. Picasso and African art)
• Dec. 8 - Learning to Look: Forms and Materials
• Jan. 12 - Case Studies: Art in Cultural Context: Contrasting Cultures – Contrasting Styles -The Dogon of Mali and the Yoruba of Nigeria.
• Feb. 9 - Masquerade – Not Just a Mask On a Wall
• Mar. 9 - Anonymous Doesn't Live Here Anymore--African Artists Traditional and Modern
• Apr. 13 - Likeness and Beyond: Portraiture in Iconic African Art
• May 3  - Shango to Shonibare: African Art in the Black Atlantic World--with a focus on the form, meaning and movement of the Thunder Deity Shango from Africa through the Diaspora (Cuba, Brazil, Haiti), and into the art of the Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights movement in the United States

This series is co-sponsored by the Friends of Memorial Hall Library and is in collaboration with the Groton Public Library. 

Events in this series will be recorded. A link to the recording will be shared with everyone who registers. 

Upcoming events