Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / Oct. 23, 1993, edition 1 / Page 19
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‘African Zion’ Exhibits 14 Centuries Of Christianity By Angela Walker BALTIMORE (AP) - The image of a white Madonna and child is familiar to most Americans, but a new exhibition presents Christ and the Virgin Mary as people of color dressed in brightly patterned Ethiopian garb. "African Zion; The Sacred Art of Ethiopia” chronicles the tradition of Christianity in the East African country from the 4th century through the 18th century with more than 100 manuscripts, icons and gold and silver metalwork on display. "I think that when people think of African art, they think of art from West Africa," said Margaret Booher, executive director of InterCultura, a nonprofit organization based in Fort Worth, Texas that is co-sponsoring the exhibit "This brings to light the Christian side of art from the east." The national tour of the exhibit began at the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore Oct. 17. It runs through Jan, 9,before moving to New York, Houston, Dallas, Chicago, Cambridge, Mass., Cincinnati and Los Angeles. The Ethiopian epic "The Glory of the Kings" contends that the biblical Queen of Sheba traveled from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to seek the wisdom of Solomon. The rulers of Ethiopia claimed descent from the kings of Israel through Sheba and Solomon’s son, Menelik. Two captured Syrian slaves, Frumentius and Aedesius, converted the Emperor Ezana to Christianity in the 4th century. After his freedom was granted, Frumentips was consecrated a bishop in Egypt, but Ijiter returned to convert the Ethiopian people. "African Zion" showcases illuminated manuscripts guarded for centuries in local monasteries that will be on display for the first time outside of Etiiiopia. "A number of the objects come from monasteries and churches in the countryside that even as a tourist traveling to Ethiopia you wouldn’t be able to see," said Marilyn Heldman, a professor at the University of Missouri- St. Louis and a curator of the exhibition. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity." Ethiopian Christian religious art incorporates the spiritual images of Christ, the Virgin Mary, saints and angels with images of everyday worshipers. "There’s a wonderful fusion of the real and the spiritual,” said Gary Vikan, curator of medieval art at The Walters Art Gallery. Richly patterned and colored icons were used in public ceremonies and in private worship. Smaller versions were worn as talismans to protect wearers frpm harm, Vikan said. "Icons are something that transcend any religious affiliation," he said, "They speak to an aspect of human spirituality that everyone admires." The exhibition also': thcludes: fitigreed processional crosses, and coins that were the first ever to use crosses in their design, Heldman said. . Abuna Pawlos, the head of the national church of Ethiopia, will travel to Baltimore for the exhibition, said the curator, who met with the patriarch and his private secretary to negotiate the loan of the sacred objects. "They are very pleased that people in America will be seeing these works of art, because it’s important for them to realize the unique culture of Ethiopia," she said. Photographs of Ethiopian worshipers in the United States by photographer Chester Higgins Jr. also will be on display as part of the exhibiL Support for the exhibition from Baltimore’s black residents has been overwhelming, said Julia Forbes, school programs coordinator at The Walters. Several businesses have made donations, and more than 30 volunteers have trained to be tour guides. "This exhibition really allows us to reach out to the African-American community," Booher said. "I hope it will help African-Americans, who might have been put off by museums, to bridge the gap where they may not have felt they had access before." The city has donated two buses to allow about 4,000 public school students to tour the exhibition. A hands-on gallery will enable children to try on Ethiopian clothes and listen to traditional and modem music, Forbes said. ’’Cross-cultural programs like this gallery help children recognize dial people are people wherever they live," said Diane Stillman, the education director at the gallery. "African Zion" will be on display through Jan. 9, 1994 at The Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore; Feb. 1, 1994- March 29, 1994 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York; April 21,1994-June 16, 1994 at the Menil Collection in Houston; SepL 28, 1994-Nov. 30, 1994 at the Museum of African American History in Chicago; March 20, 1995-May 15, 1995 at The Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Mass.; August 25,1995-October 20,1995 at the Cincinnati Museum of Ait, Qncinnati; Nov. 12, 1995-Jan. 7, 1996 at the Museum of African Art in Los Angeles. Saturday; October 23,1993—the Carolina times-3 African American History October 23 1947 - The NAACP petitioned United Nations on raciai conditions in the United States. October 24 1964 - Zambie gained independence from Great Britain. 1972 - Jackie Robinson died. October 25 1945 - Jackie Robinson signed by Branch Rickey to play professional baseball on the Brooklyn Dodgers team. First African American in the 'liig leagues". 1992 - Toronto [Canada] Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston became the first African American to manage a baseball team to World Series title. October 26 1911 - Mahalia Jackson born. Gospel singer. 1921 - Solomon P. Hood named Minister to Liberia. - October 27 1821 - New York paper advertised Negro stage play. 1954 - Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. became first African American general in United States Air Force. October 28 1972 - Jackie Robinson biography published. 1981 - Edward M. McIntyre elected first African American mayor of Augusta, Ga. October 29 1938 - Roscoe Conklin Giles became first African American certified in general surgery. 1949 - Alonzo G. Moron became first African American president of Hampton Institute, Va. 1974 - Muhammad Ali vs. George Foreman. Photographer Saves Black Families’ Histories in Pictures and Words The coffee plant was known in Ethiopia before A.O. 1000, where its fruit was used for food and wine. By Martha Waggoner If Atlanta photographer Lynn Marshall-Linnemeier visits your home, prepare to scrounge through closets, ttinks and forgotten boxes hiding in the back of drawers for the treasure that she seeks. Linnemeier, who’s working on a project to record the lives of blacks in the South through pictures and oral history, doesn’t want to see the formal portraits that hang on walls. She wants snapshots taken at birthdays, family reunions and church picnicS. "A lot of people, you say you’re looking for photos, they pull out portraits taken in studios,” said Linnemeier, a liative of Southern Pines, where much of lier family still lives. "Somehow, there’s iso a little box with photos hidden away. They say ‘You don’t want to see that’ I say, ‘Yes, 1 do. That’s when you get the r^y beautiful kinds of things. ■Things in boxes and under the beds and in closets - the photos that take my breath away." Linnemeier, who did a similar project in Mississippi, has just started going through North Carolina, asking black families to let her copy their family snapshots. The project, called "North Carolina Self-Portrait," is being paid for by the North Carolina Humanities Council and the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies. The idea for the project dates back about 20 years to when Alex Harris, now a professor of public pblicy studies ht' Duke and a foundCT of the 'docutUeiltary studies center, was a young photographer in Alaska. As a favor to, the Eskimos, he copied some of their family snapshots. Sbme snapshots were tattered and the family wanted better copies; some were t e only copy and the family wanted ore. "I began to notice how different th^ snapshots were than mine," Harris said. "Their pictures were in many ways much more revealing and honest than the ones I was making. ... Their pictures changed a great deal the way I began to photograph Eskimos." Some of those f^ily photos made it into the book that Harris and another photographer put together on the Eskimos. So when a project came up to illustrate the lives of blacks, Harris remembered hfs experience in Alaska. "What betiCT way to do it than through the photographs that blacks themselves have chosen and made to represent themselves and placed in their family albums," be said. Another photographer began the Mississippi project in 1988 and Linnemeier took over a year later. The Nprth Carolina project is just beginning. Linnemeier visited Southern Pines last week and plans to be in Asheville Npv. 15-21; New Bern, Dec. 13-19; and Pprham, Jan. 10-16. Because of limited 3 joney, she’s staying in people’s homes uring her travels. When the North Carolina project is Completed, the materials will be used, ^ong with those gathered in Mississii^ sevem years ago,, to. ereaie. a:book and (Continued On Page 10)
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Oct. 23, 1993, edition 1
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