CREATIVE AFRICA Exhibit at the Perelman Building, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Creative Africa Exhibit at Perelman Building, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Brilliantly colored fashion designs, haunting photographs, traditional textiles, masks and other objects, and a look community architecture, make up the Creative Africa exhibit at the Perelman Building of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I was drawn to the museum because of my love of African fabrics and textiles but found every part of the exhibit fascinating.

Entrance to Perelman Building

My first stop was in the room called "Vlisco: African Fashion on a Global Stage" which features cotton fabrics printed by the Dutch company Vlisco for the African market. In the center of the room were models wearing stunning dresses made from the fabrics and around the walls were samples of some of the company’s most popular designs through the years.

Fashions designed from Vlisco fabrics

My favorites were those that turned everyday objects, such as a sewing machine or a chicken and eggs, into decorative motifs. They reminded me of the fabrics I saw offered in village markets years ago when I was in East Africa for three months while Art was doing a research project. I still have some of those fabrics. This exhibit will be on view until January 22, 2017.

Wax printed fabric by Vlisco

An exhibit on the second floor of the building, called "Threads of Tradition", displays some of the traditional kinds of African cloth. A table in the center of the room has blocks of kente cloth strips and an invitation to make your own pattern by mixing and matching the striped blocks to make your own design.The exhibit is on view until January 2017.

Kente cloth is made by the Asante culture, Akan peoples, Ghana

In another room was an exhibit of photographs by three African photographers who had taken pictures in six African cities. I found the photos of Tombouctou (Timbuktu) particularly powerful, especially one of an ancient manuscript, now threatened by current events. For centuries, Tombouctou has been a center of Islamic scholarship and book production. Today it is home to more than 400,000 rare manuscripts. The photography exhibit is on view until September 25, 2016.

Photo by Seydou Camara,

On the main floor another large room was filled with a variety of art created in West and Central Africa from the 1500s to the 1900s including carved ivories and bronze altar objects from the kingdom of Benin, Kongo power figures, Kuba textiles and vessels, Akan gold weights, Kota reliquary figures, and more. Visitors are invited to look again and gain a fresh perspective. The "Look Again" exhibit will be up until December 4, 2016.

Reliquary Guardian Figure from Gambon