Hidden Treasures of African Art

Description

Program host Griff Rhys Jones continues his quest to understand non-Western art forms by travelling to West Africa. Looking beyond the astonishing monetary worth of antique carvings from the region, Jones asks: what makes a piece "authentic" and are such objects still produced by artists today? Is there an exact definition for what constitutes African art? Has there ever been? The investigation starts on Mali's Bandiagara Escarpment, a hub of Dogon civilization, which invests certain carvings and sculptures with spiritual significance. Wondering if belief in the power of these objects can survive the march of modernity, Jones shifts his focus to Accra, the capital of Ghana. There he encounters further reasons to think of art in the context of time's passage, as he learns more about invention and creativity on the continent that gave birth to the human species.

Runtime

59 min

Series

Subjects

Geography

Genre

Date of Publication

[2013], c2011

Database

Films on Demand

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