Student Curators Present: African Art

One of my current projects is helping with an exhibition curated by the students in the African Art class I am taking this term.  The Exhibition is being held April 27 - July 24, 2012 in the Hitchcock Gallery on the lower level of the Toledo Museum of Art.  The topic chosen for our exhibition is Leadership and Spirituality in African Art.  Please come out to see it.

Each student in the class researched a work of art and wrote a paper about it. The sculpture above is the work that I wrote about.  It is a woman devotee of the cult of Shango. Shango was an early king of the town of Oyo in Yoruba (which is in the same area as modern day Nigeria). Shango was an impulsive man who was interested in magic. He is said to have created a storm with lightening which killed many of his subjects including some of his wives and children. After that he committed suicide. When another storm came to the area, his supporters claimed that it was Shango. He had not died, but became a god. Shango is the god of thunder. His worshippers hold a festival in his honor and figures such as this one are in the Shango shrine along with items of Shango worship.