Tsedaye Makonnen's ASTRAL SEA Speaks To The Need for Collective Refuge
Contemporary Ethiopian/American Artist Tsedaye Makonnen was commissioned by MetLiveArts and featured as one of the two living artists in the Africa and Byzantium exhibition. The result is ASTRAL SEA, which speaks to themes of Slavery, Textiles and History
Oyiza Adaba, New York
Contemporary Ethiopian/American Artist Tsedaye Makonnen was commissioned by MetLiveArts and featured as one of the two living artists in the Africa and Byzantium exhibition. The result is ASTRAL SEA, which speaks to themes of Slavery, Textiles and History
Contemporary Artist Tsedaye Makonnen, currently featured as one of the two living artists in the Africa and Byzantium exhibition, has been commissioned by MetLiveArts and supported by Franklin Furnace to produce a new iteration from her performance and textile series Astral Sea to be featured at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The exhibition explores the cultural interconnections between the African continent and Byzantium from the 4th to the 15th century. The Met has commissioned 7 new works from Tsedaye alongside this new performance piece.
Performers Jasmine Hearn and Adia will be adorned by Astral Sea mirrored textiles created by the artist Tsedaye moving through the exhibit and Petrie Court. Their abstracted gestures will emulate water, land and the cosmos becoming a conduit of those who the work honors.
The performance will highlight themes of healing, protection, hope, resilience, and the power of collective action, drawing connections between the rich histories of Africa and the African diaspora. It will be accompanied by a special live soundscape created by world renowned Sudanese musician Alsarah from Alsarah and the Nubatones.
Astral Sea: The Need for Collective Refuge Performance
Date: February 29th, 2024
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Africa & Byzantium exhibit and Petrie Court
Performers: Jasmine Hearn, Adia and musician Alsarah
Artist: Tsedaye Makonnen
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EXHIBITION: THE MET Tributes CHEIK DIOP With ‘African Origin of Civilization’
The exhibition highlights five millennia of extraordinary artistic production on the African continent.
By Oyiza Adaba | Africa-Related New York
Photo: metmuseum.org
The ongoing exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY titled The African Origin of Civilization, may be a vindication of sorts, of the Senegalese historian Cheik Anta Diop’s previously debunked theory about Africa’s time and place in the global civilization discourse.
In his 1974 book The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality, Diop challenged what history had long taught about Africa.
The exhibition bulletin highlights five millennia of extraordinary artistic production on the African continent. Twenty-one pairings unite masterpieces from the Museum's collections of ancient Egyptian and West and Central African art to reveal unexpected parallels and contrasts across time and cultures.
“The African Origin of Civilization will remain on view while The Met’s galleries of Sub-Saharan African Art are closed for the complete renovation of the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. The re-envisioned wing is expected to reopen in 2024, and will feature three distinct suites of galleries for Sub-Saharan African Art, Ancient American Art, and Oceanic Art.
- The MET Museum -
The Met continues to set an encouraging example to museums worldwide by giving well-earned spaces to their African Ancient & Oceanic Art sections. Our own museum coverage and experience show that in most cases, these sections are reserved at farther wings from the main space, leaving visitors sometimes discouraged by distance, time or exhaustion.
The exhibition opened on December 14, 2021 and remains ongoing.