In addition to the portrait, there are two other noteworthy artworks exhibited, El Anatsui’s shimmering cloth-like artwork and Elias Sime’s reclaimed electrical wires on a panel.
El Anatsui, born in Ghana in 1942, collected hundreds of discarded liquor bottle tops that he flattened, folded, crushed, cut and shaped, arranging them in colour combinations and patterns evoking West African strip-woven textiles.
The bottle seals represent dozens of brands made in local Nigerian distilleries which form a tapestry that drapes and folds as though it were soft cloth.
Elias Sime, born in Ethiopia in 1968, reclaimed electrical wires on panels by use of computer motherboards, electrical wires, keyboards and other technology-related refuse. Carefully weaving and braiding the wires, he is able to attach electronic detritus into a patterned canvas. For Elias, the materials suggest the ever-increasing pace of communication and the accompanying distance of personal interaction. Through the laborious process of creative transformation, the artist slows down the information flow represented by these physical remnants, balancing technology with art.
Local guide, Betsy Murphy-Thomas, gave some insight into the works of art at this particular museum situated in New Jersey.
The entrance features three panels of plates inclusive of the main artworks comprising of African, Tibetan and American art. Other countries are also fairly represented, meaning that the museum would require of one to take a full day to peruse through it. The entrance also boasts of a photograph taken in 1990 depicting South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu and lifelong friend the 14th Dalai Lama alongside Former Newark Catholic Archbishop Theodore McCarrick. Former Newark Mayor Sharpe James, the artist-in-residence Phuntsok Dorje and the curator of Asian collections Valrae Reynolds, are also visible in the photograph background.
There are a total number of eleven artworks in the Africa section.
