So this is the cover of the catalog.
The exhibition, as you can see, is called
Embodying the Sacred in Yoruba Art,
featuring the collection of Bernie and Pat Wagner.
The exhibition has loads of cowrie shells.
You can see that's what makes up the vest
of this little sculpture.
If you haven't been to the high,
here's a shot of the Renzo Piano Piazza at night.
I joined the high in September 2001
as the first ever curator of African art.
I was hired to build the collection,
planned for its presentation in the space
that opened in November of 2005,
and developed the special exhibition program.
This is the African art gallery,
as you can see it from the street.
It's visible from 16th Street.
Before I arrived, it was already decided
that the African art gallery,
first semi-permanent space for African art,
would be in the 2,400 square feet
at the 16th Street level.
I don't say lower level.
I say 16th Street level,
even so the elevators say LL, lower level.
This was the installation of the other side of that wall.
This is the wall that faces inward.
The other one faces outward
to face the three wide windows on 16th.
Those three last masks were purchased in Burkina Faso,
one of my areas of special focus within African art,
especially for that space.
That mask that you saw with the cloth
that was in November of 2005,
this white beaded crown
was also in the gallery at that time.
They've now moved over into the special exhibition.
You'll see them again in just a moment.
This crown is made out of little tiny white beads,
and it's not in this view,
but over here you see that cloth mask that just appeared.
That was the very, very first work
that I purchased for the museum's collection.
This is the installation of this special exhibition,
which is just adjacent to the permanent gallery.
It's been great for me to get the special attention
for this exhibition, and there it is.
Velvet panels on the outside
that date to between 1750 and 1850.
This is an agungung cloth masquerade.
Agungung is a Yorba men's association
that honors the ancestors through masquerade performance.
The mask has that very old cloth on the outside,
and then cotton, hand spun cotton indigo cloth
on the inside and for the feet.
This is a textile that's also included in the exhibition.
It's not the narrow band cloth that you often think of,
like kente cloth, but it's made in two wide bands
on a vertical loom by a woman weaver.
This is a divination board.
The Yorba have a very complex pantheon of deities,
which includes Eshu.
At the very top of this circular board is the face of Eshu.
Eshu can be thought of as like Hermes or Mercury
in terms of Greek or Roman religion.
Eshu's face must always be present on the divination boards
as communication between this world and beyond
is facilitated there.
So the exhibition is divided into three sections.
The head as a crown is the first section.
This is actually maybe inappropriate,
but we're looking into the interior of somebody's house
of the head shrine.
In Yorba thought everyone has an inner head and an outer head.
That sculpture was made as a shrine to someone's inner head.
There's a wonderful phrase,
don't let my inner head spoil my outer head.
I like to repeat that as often as possible.
Next section, alter arts and sacred symbols.
This is an exquisite tiny little sculpture
that was gifted to the museum through the organization of this show.
Third section, masquerade festivals.
I love this mask for the four eyes on one side
and then four eyes on the other.
In Yorba and in fact in a number of different African societies
to represent the spiritual,
you create something that is not possible in life on earth.
The four eyes or eight eyes rather than two.
This is now moving into the permanent gallery.
This is one of my most recent acquisitions.
It's even larger than what you see here in real life.
It's about nine feet long.
It's a water spirit mask from eastern Nigeria.
When I came to the museum,
I began to define African art in ways that people often don't think.
So not only the masks and figurative sculpture,
but also photography.
So this is a little vintage print of photograph by Malik Sidibey.
This last fall we had a wonderful program,
Bamako in the 1960s, Malik Sidibey and James Brown.
This was my very, very first acquisition.
It was a gift gifted to the high in December of 2001.
It's a 19th century Ethiopian painting.
So I worked to try and expand people's understanding of African art
to include more diverse range of forms.
And in last spring, I acquired a contemporary work by the artist El Anatsui.
He was born in Ghana, but has lived and worked in eastern Nigeria
for the past several decades, teaches at the University of Nsukka.
Since 1999, he's been making these fantastic metal cloth sculptures.
And here's a close-up.
I had hoped to include this work in an exhibition I've been working on,
Global Africa Contemporary Art of the Black Atlantic World.
That show may be realized down the line, but it's not currently on the agenda.
You can see how this metal cloth sculpture is inspired by Kente cloth.
It's actually made from bits of aluminum.
It has a whole workshop of people assisting him that is stitched together with copper wire.
This was his work as it was presented at the Venice Biennale.
His work has skyrocketed to international art stardom
with this series of metal cloth sculptures.
It was just absolutely fantastic.
It's the largest one he's created to date.
I wanted to also mention the show that's on view right now at SCAD ACA,
the gallery at the Woodruff Art Center.
It's not part of the high.
It's right across from near Symphony Hall, rich auditorium.
There's an exhibition by Yinka Shonibare, the London-based artist.
This is one of my favorite of all his works called Scramble for Africa.
And finally, I'm also trying to bring to Atlanta.
It won't happen before probably 2011 or 2012 if I'm successful.
An exhibition of ancient terracottas and bronzes from the region of the city of Yifei.
That's it.
So come to the museum.
