In the Loop
In the Loop
Lecture

HESCAH Lecture | Humor and Violence: Seeing Europeans in Central African Art

  • Date & Time
    • Thursday, February 21, 2019 6:00pm 2019-02-21 06:00:00 pm1969-12-31 07:00:00 pmAmerica/New_YorkHESCAH Lecture | Humor and Violence: Seeing Europeans in Central African ArtSamuel P. Harn Museum of Art
  • Description

    Join the School of Art + Art History for Humor and Violence: Seeing Europeans in Central African Art, a HESCAH lecture given by Dr.  Zoë Strother, Riggio Professor of African Art, at Columbia University on Thursday, February 21 at 6 p.m. in the Chandler Auditorium at the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art.

    Free and open to the public. 

    About the Lecture

    There is a long history of Central Africans depicting Europeans and Americans. Vili ivory sculptors made some of the only surviving portrayals by Africans of the worldwide slave trade. Yaka and Nkanu caricatured Europeans during boys’ initiations in order to provide models of how not to be a man. During the colonial period, Europeans appeared on a wide variety of media, including free-standing sculptures, engraved gourds, house murals, sculpted chairs. It is a paradox that some of the most light-hearted images of Europeans were produced during the periods of the worse violence, often in the form of diplomatic gifts. The talk ends with reflections by artists on the role of humor in making visible the mechanics and ethics of power in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in the global economy.

  • Venue
    Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art
    Address
    3259 Hull Road
    Phone
    352-392-9826
    Website
    Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art Website