Art And Memory
How Art Becomes a Living History Book
While stories in some cultures are preserved on paper, in others, they live on in the minds and hearts of the people. In African cultures, these unwritten tales are an integral part of everyday life, passed down through generations without ever being written down.
African oral literature encompasses these spoken traditions—stories, myths, proverbs, and songs—preserved and passed on through word of mouth. It is a dynamic form of storytelling where memory, performance, and community converge, ensuring that African peoples' wisdom, values, and history are never forgotten, even without the aid of written records.
Art as a Living History Book: African Oral Traditions and Visual Narratives invites you on an enriching journey into the heart of African culture. You will explore how oral traditions are spoken, etched, carved, sung, and woven into the very fabric of African life.
Discover how African art, as a living history book, plays a crucial role in preserving both personal and collective memory.
Art, at its essence, is a conduit for human creativity and expression. It effectively conveys ideas, beliefs, and emotions through visual, auditory, and tactile forms, playing a pivotal role in African culture.
Art is about moulding reality, mirroring truth, and creating worlds. In many African communities, it goes beyond mere adornment to become a living testament of ancestral wisdom and communal values.
Discover how art, as a profound storyteller, serves as a living record of history.
Oral Literature
Throughout history, humans have told each other stories—tales of divine creatures, gods and kings, myths and legends—stories of our past and who we are now.
These tales are passed down orally from generation to generation. They might change length or form with each telling, but they always retain the flavour from which they sprung.
Explore African traditional oral storytelling and the influences that have shaped it.
Myths And Music
Africa is music, and its musical instruments have existed for centuries. In many African traditions, tales of legends, gods, and goddesses are shared, accompanied by the sounds of various musical instruments, each with it's unique charm.
Discover the captivating myths and the spellbinding melodies of traditional instruments from Africa.
Art And Memory
How Art Preserves Lineage and Memory
Explore how African oral stories are reflected in visual arts, ensuring the preservation of cultural knowledge through myths, music, sculptures, architecture, and fabric.
Discover the role of oral literature and visual arts in storytelling, focusing on how these practices encode history and serve as vessels of cultural memory and identity.
The Role of Art Today
The Role of Art Today: Reinterpreting African History in Modern Times
Explore how contemporary African artists, visionaries and communities reinterpret traditional forms to tell new stories while preserving the core function of art as a living history book.
Africa's oral tradition
Celebrate Africa's oral traditional
storytelling through evocative compositions.
Once Upon A time
Explore African Oral literature through the childhood experiences of a young boy named Molamin in The Gambia.
Myths And Music
Explore African traditional oral storytelling and the influences that have shaped it.
