西非书法院近期藏品, 达喀尔, 塞内加尔
全球体验办公室在达喀尔实地考察期间, 塞内加尔, in January (2024) 十大菠菜台子 教师 members Gana Ndiaye and Joseph Derosier, along with 莱特艺术博物馆 curator Christa故事 visited the 西非书法学院 in the 古萨迪亚维地区的城市.
的 研究所, 由Yelimane Fall于2012年创立, is dedicated to raising awareness of social issues and empowering youth in 塞内加尔 through art and cultural preservation. It is run by Artistic Director Fallou Fall, son of its founder who passed away in 2019. Fallou Fall continues to develop socially conscious work in the unique West African calligraphic style centered on Islamic texts and the poems of Cheikh Amadu Bamba (ca. 1853–1927), founder of the Muridiyya Sufi Brotherhood in 塞内加尔. 慷慨邀请 Ndiaye, Derosier, 并谈到了研究所的使命, 他父亲的艺术, 以及他是如何以艺术的方式继续工作的, 精神上, 并在社区内外产生影响. 访问期间, Fall详细介绍了他的实践, and the ways in which the institute disseminates teachings of the Qur’an and the wisdom of Bamba, 尤其是对年轻人.
作为塞内加尔的Murid, Yelimane Fall lives in a geographic and theological space considered peripheral to both Islamic and Western discourses. He experiments with artistic media not typically associated with the calligraphic arts and uses Arabic and 沃洛夫语 Ajami to carry the Murid message. (贝克尔,辛西娅和亚历克斯·齐托. “Yelimane Fall: 塞内加尔ese 呼叫igraphy in Action” African Arts, Vol. 47, No. 2(夏季2014),加州大学洛杉矶分校詹姆斯S. 科尔曼非洲研究中心,页. 28-39.)
叶利曼·福尔,他的作品 Ndiaye 引起大家的注意, was both an artist and 社区 activist who signed his work MF, 或信仰的使者. Many of the messages shared through his art convey Muridiyya spiritual beliefs based on the teachings of Cheikh Amadu Bamba. 班巴的诗歌和教学以教育为主题, 社区, 世界和平, 努力工作与幸福和尊严的平衡. 秋天的工作, 这是从他与班巴的梦中相遇而来的, is important for situating Islam in West Africa within the globalized Islamic message of peace and inclusion via a unique combination of local tradition and modified 语言.
Both Ndiaye and Derosier are interested in the ways that 秋天的工作 creates space for 十大菠菜台子 students to engage with themes of identity, 语言, 宗教, and the movements and adaptations that occur within those themes. 根据Ndiaye的说法, 秋天的工作 showcases the innovative ways that this specific style—which Fall refers to as 书法家黑人非洲人是西非伊斯兰教的艺术产物, and establishes unique practice and identity separate from the Arab world and colonial French tradition.
Derosier will explore some of these ideas in his Fall 2024 Parker class-curated exhibition at the Wright Museum. His class will use 秋天的工作, recently acquired by the Wright Museum, to ask questions such as How can an artist such as Yelimane Fall speak back to secular and/or religious art in France? 和他的班级在一起, 德罗西耶打算这么做, “de-center France and open up our curriculum to the broader francophone world that critiques and interrogates positionality, 政治, 和诗学.”
的 莱特艺术博物馆 has a long history of acquiring art based on its pedagogical potential. More recently, the Wright Museum has been acquiring art that can also serve to complement 并批评现有的集合. 给伯洛伊特学院的教职员工, 选择Fall作品的过程是值得的, 但考虑到风格和信息的多样性,这也很困难. 一组旗帜风格的画作 Poot Mi - La ligne 系列 were particularly interesting: these convey the social wisdom of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba in three 语言s. 在Fall的许多作品中,阿拉伯语被用来接触更广泛的受众, but in this 系列 interpretations of Bamba’s messages are depicted in Ajami, 沃洛夫语, 和法国. Ajami, a focus of Ndiaye’s scholarship, is a modified Arabic alphabet (i.e. non-Arabic 语言s like 沃洛夫语 written in modified Arabic script). 的标志格式 有意图的行动 (图. 4) highlights its 社区-facing intent: messaging for the public (especially youth) in the streets. 在一次采访中,Fall惊呼道:
即使你对塞内加尔一无所知, 的鼠科动物, 或伊斯兰教, at some level everyone gains something from [my] art: Perhaps its the appeal of colors and designs that make you go deeper. Any single one of these works would take a book to explain it, but no one reads books anymore. Books would just sit in the shelves of the library without being of use to people and would not fulfill their mission to spread the message of the faith. I do art because it is a more effective way to spread the message. (的 artist in conversation with Becker/Zito between November 10 and December 16, 2011)
的 appeal of color and design is precisely what caught Story’s eye in the second work (图. 5)—the vivid green and varied textures of the applied cloth pull the viewer in immediately. 作品展示了Fall的艺术实践, 尤其是他对再生材料的使用和大胆, 平面设计. It was also important for Story to select a piece by Fall with a Qur’anic passage, particularly because contemporary Islamic art is not currently represented in the Wright’s collection. 这段出自《十大菠菜台子》第68章第4节: 你(穆罕默德)确是品德高尚的人.
的se recent acquisitions will be included in Derosier’s exhibition at 莱特艺术博物馆 opening at the end of November. 作为对象, they offer engaging content and access points for both Muslim and non-Muslim students, 教师, 和工作人员. 他们将成为CRIS许多课程活动的亮点, 现代语言, 人类学和更多. 的 莱特艺术博物馆 is very pleased to bring these works to Beloit.