Author Talk: Raymond Silverman and Neal Sobania with Daniel Berhanemeskel
About this Event
Raymond Silverman and Neal Sobania’s groundbreaking study explores the vital role of devotional paintings in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church through the lives and work of the individuals who make, commission, and sell them. Based on 25 years of research, their work focuses on the holy city of Aksum where Christianity was introduced in the fourth century and where an important center for Orthodox painting continues to thrive. Daniel Berhanemeskel, participant and longstanding research support for theproject, will join in the conversation with the two authors and moderator Heran Sereke-Brhan, Deputy Director for the National Museum of African Art.
Don't miss the book signing with Silverman and Sobania, authors of Ethiopian Church Art: Painters, Patrons, Purveyors, following the discussion!
Limited seating.
Raymond Silverman, a historian of the visual cultures of Africa, is professor emeritus of History of Art, African Studies, and Museum Studies at University of Michigan. His research and writing explore historical and contemporary visual practices in Ethiopia, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, and museum and heritage discourse in Africa. Publications include Ethiopian Church Art: Painters, Patrons, Purveyors (2022); a special issue of Ghana Studies titled, "Looking Back, Looking Forward: Visual Art Studies in Ghana" (2022); National Museums in Africa: Identity, History and Politics (2021); Museum as Process: Translating Local and Global Knowledges (2015); Painting Ethiopia: The Life and Work of Qes Adamu Tesfaw (2005); and Ethiopia: Traditions of Creativity (1999).
Neal Sobania is Professor of History Emeritus from Pacific Lutheran University. Sobania has extensive experience in living, working, and conducting research in Africa that began as a freshly minted college graduate with his assignment as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia. He is the author of Culture and Customs of Kenya (Greenwood, 2003), a broad introduction to the cultural, geographic, ethnic, and linguistic diversity of the country. He is a major contributor to the research and catalogs of Painting Ethiopia: The Life and Work of Qes Adamu Tesfaw (2005) and Ethiopia: Traditions of Creativity (1999) that accompanied the traveling national exhibitions of the same names. He has curated museum exhibitions, including at the National Museum of Natural History, filmed and written short documentaries to introduce Africa to broader audiences, and had his photographs exhibited and published. Other publication iinclude “The Formation of Ethnic Identity in South Omo: The Dassanech” in The Journal of Eastern African Studies, Vol 5 (1) 2011: 195-210; entries in the Encyclopedia of National Dress, (Vol. 1, Greenwood Press, 2013); the Dictionary of African Biography, (Oxford University Press, 2011); the New Encyclopedia of Africa, (2nd Edition, Gale Group, 2008), and Cultures and Customs of Africa encyclopedia (ABC-CLIO).
Image credit: Raymond Silverman photo by William Gblerkpor; Neal Sobania photo by Ethan Schoonover; Daniel Berhanemeskel photo by Raymond Silverman.
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