African Arts
After attending several exhibits on Africa and its culture I picked one that I found most interesting. Built around 15 B.C. the Temple of Dendur was built as a shrine to the goddess Isis. Facing flooding issues from the Nile River it was given to the United States and rebuilt at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Standing as it did back in Egypt to some reasonable scale, the site is one of grand status. Upon entering the exhibit the first thing to catch my eye was the wall of glass all along the right. The bright light of the sun shone in and lit the enormous area around the temple. As I got closer to the temple I noticed the hieroglyphics carved throughout the temple. Then I noticed names carved as well and dates. As if people who came across the temple wrote their own name onto it as graffiti. As if it was a sort of paper for them to deface it as they felt pleased. I walked into the temple as for in as the velvet rope allowed me to and the most obvious thing to catch my attention was written "J LIVINGSTON, JANURY 1, 1818". Written exactly as that, misspelling and all, it dawned on me that all these names written just a contemporary form of defacement but rather history of its own. The names seemed to come from nat
Written on the mihrab were inscriptions probably quoting the Koran. This exhibit helped me realize how deep African culture is. Even though I was only required to view 3 of these objects I went through all of them reading each and every single insert. Her torso and buttocks are filled with intricate patterns. The key word for the room was symmetric from the floor to the window shutters everything was beautifully even. The stool itself is held up by a standing figures stretched out fingers. The circumfrance on it was the same of that of a big pumpkin. Astonished by it's craftsmanship and detailed symmetry !I needed to know more about it, and found out that a mihrab was placed in a Mosque and used to point out the direction of Mecca. The badge is an ideal symbol if Ashanti belief. If misfortune is present in the village, then the dance would show the ancestors punishing the people who misbehave. Floored with symmetric designed marble and red velvet seating, the room was used to meditate and pray in. Armlets and braclets that most likely haven't been worn but instead used to trade or purchase. Filled with many different types of historic artifacts from Central Africa. Last, but not in any fashion least was an anklet from the Igbo peoples.
Common topics in this essay:
African Forms,
Master African,
Standing Egypt,
Republic Congo,
Coming Damascus,
Koran Koran,
Names Leonardo,
Temple Dendur,
LIVINGSTON JANURY,
Central Africa,
culture beautiful,
african culture,
catch eye,
sculpture chokwe,
islamic culture,
temple noticed,
soul chief,
temple dendur,
outer wall,
luba chief,
|
Acceptance Essays
