Wákàtí
Wákàtí: Time Shapes African Art
September 21, 2015 - January 16, 2016
The relationship between time and space in African art was the focus of this exhibition. Wákàtí, a West African concept among the Yoruba, refers to time as it unfolds and marks its passage with signs of change. The works assembled for this exhibition tackled the question: how does time shape African art? With works including painting, sculpture, ceramics, photographs, performance and installation arts, the exhibition presented the relationship between time and space in the making of the art objects, and the shaping of styles from different eras and various areas of Africa.
This exhibition, featuring works from the OSU Museum of Art collection, eliminates the artificial wall often erected between “traditional” and “contemporary” art in Africa by highlighting the seamless transition of time as a natural flow uniting images from ancient to current practices. The works in the exhibition demonstrate the notion of Pabambari, an African esthetic idea for appraising and enjoying the highest form of artistic excellence. In the gallery spaces, the works of living artists including Christopher Adejumo, Orisagbemi Arigbabuwo, and Tinuomi Afilaka, interact with ancestral images from Dogon, Ashanti, Yaka and other indigenous African traditions.
Guest Curator
Moyo Okediji, Ph.D., Professor of Art History, the University of Texas
Related Events
09.21.2015 - Guest lecture: Olaniyi R. Akindiya, Visiting Artist
09.29.2015 - Performance: Olaniyi R. Akindiya, Visiting Artist
10.07.2015 - Opening Reception: Curator talk with Moyo Okediji and live painting performance by D. Denenge Akpem, Visiting Artist
11.10.2015 - Lecture: Dr. Reynaldo Anderson, Afrofuturism 2.0: The Rise of Astro-Blackness
11.14.2015 - Wákàtí: A Fashion Show : OSU apparel design students
D. Denenge Akpem, Visiting Artist
- Press & Publications
OSU | Wákàtí: Time Shapes African Art
BROCHURE | Wákàtí: Time Shapes African Art
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Exhibitions and programs at the Oklahoma State University Museum of Art are sponsored by OSU Founding Patrons, OSU/A&M Board of Regents, OSU Foundation, and the Oklahoma Arts Council.