Today's Edition
KHALED AL KHAWALDEH (ABU DHABI)
Upon entering Louvre Abu Dhabi's new art exhibit guests are confronted with what appears to be an elongated map, showing the true size of the African continent, rather than the often distorted and shrunken version portrayed in most maps.
The subtle message sets the tone for the exhibition which seeks to confront and answer telling questions about the history of the often mis and underrepresented continent.
The "Kings and Queens of Africa: Forms and Figures of Power" exhibition at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, is the first of its kind exhibition in the region; challenging notions of power, place and belonging and taking guests on a journey through the past, present and future of African art.
"It has been said that Africa has no writing that is oral culture, that there was no conscience of history, no writing about history. And this is completely wrong," Hélène Joubert, Head of African Heritage, Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, and the Curator of the exhibition told Aletihad on Tuesday.
Set across three rooms spanning different timeframes, 380 artworks take guests on a journey through various regions and time periods of the continent, as they learn about folklore, mythology, and figures through African history.
Complete with pieces of historic artistry and more contemporary illustrations, Joubert says the exhibition is designed to be a completely immersive experience into the rich world of African art.
"I wanted this space to be as open as possible, and to cross across time and across space also, and to discover that Africa is very rich, that you have a lot of diversity in the typology of objects," she said.
The exhibition includes hand sewn eulogies to great kings, and explorations of power through the artefacts from across the ages. Some of the highlights include a hand sown tapestry dedicated to the great African King, Mansa Musa, who is said to have tanked the price of gold by giving away his fortune upon completing his pilgrimage to Mecca.
Whilst more modern interpretations, like that of American artist, Ayana V. Jackson seek to deconstruct the impact of the "colonial gaze" on photography and challenge its foundations. The exhibition asks guests to reimagine the limits of power and challenges viewers to imagine an Africa beyond the tragedies of the slave trade and colonial rule, something which Joubert hopes will be a fresh perspective for the people of the region.
"This exhibition is challenged because it's the first one talking about Africa, and it means that probably here, people are not very familiar with the African continent, its geography, its history and its forms of art," she said.
"It's not only dancing masks."
El Hadji Malick Ndiaye, Curator at the Théodore Monod African Art Museum and co-curator of the exhibition told Aletihad that the exhibit touched on the connection between the Middle East and the African continent, least of all through the intertwining history of Islam.
"It's very important because we share many important things. In the past we always focussed on Europe and United States but it's very important also to direct our gaze onto this part of the world," he said.
"It is very dynamic, very rich. And we share many things, because, for example, in Senegal, our most popular religion, is Islam. And we share many things. And I think that our cultural institutions can do many things together."
The exhibition will open to the public from January 29 until May 25.
