Art exhibit opening at BCC explores African themes
By Jamie Malernee
Education Writer
Posted January 22 2002
Ask artist Onajide Shabaka to explain his work, and a small, knowing smile will play across the features of this community college adjunct professor.
As one of three artists featured at Broward Community College’s African-themed art exhibit, Shabaka is accustomed to questions from the curious and the confused.
His artwork, primarily in the medium of photography, combines natural and supernatural subjects, everyday and strange images: a knot of roots, the carcass of a vulture, a fish-skinned water goddess.
“In general, I feel life in the spirit world is parallel to what we call the real world,” he tries to explain while standing in the fine arts gallery of the school’s Davie campus. “This is a mirror.”
As guest curator of the exhibit, Shabaka has pulled together various works to explore African spirituality in celebration of Black History Month this February. The exhibit opens Thursday and runs through Feb. 21.
Thursday’s reception, from 7 to 9 p.m., will include a lecture and discussion with Shabaka and Miami-based artist Edouard Duval-Carrie.
Duval-Carrie’s contributions to the exhibit include several spirit sculptures, or lwa, inspired by Haitian and African religious traditions. A series of paintings by Tremain Smith, a female artist from Philadelphia, uses earth tones and natural forms to explore themes of pregnancy and primordial beginnings.
Shabaka’s work is harder to define, although he says he is proud of his work. Various pieces refer to African spirits he has come to believe in, powers within nature he has stumbled upon during hiking trips, and Shabaka’s own ancestors explored through family photographs and letters found in a deceased relatives’ home.
Beth Ravitz, director of the fine arts gallery, calls the exhibit an important reflection of the lives and experiences of African-influenced artists. The unusual nature of many of the works makes the show even more alluring, she said.
“The purpose of art is to expose yourself to something new,” she said. “What’s the point if you’re not learning?”
Jamie Malernee can be reached at jmalernee@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7910.