Culture as a Bridge

　　For Li Anqi， a 22-year-old senior student atEast China Normal University， attending an exhibitionof Sub-Saharan African art has changed her perceptionof the continent and its culture.

　　“In the past I thought there was just one Africanculture， but at the exhibition， I found out Africa hasso many tribes and languages， and I’m amazed by itscultural diversity，” she told ChinAfrica. “Learning theircustoms， daily life and religious beliefs helps me betterunderstand African cultures，” she added.

　　Entitled A Seed of Civilization - Exhibition ofSub-Saharan Art， the exhibition is held December 1，2013-January 19 at Shanghai Himalayas Museum. Itdisplays the objects ancient Africans from varioustribes used for rituals and in daily life. Co-organizedby the museum， the African Museum in ZhejiangNormal University (ZNU) and the university’s Instituteof African Studies， it brings Chinese people a goodchance to understand the traditional art and cultureof Sub-Saharan Africa without leaving Shanghai.

　　Displaying African art

　　At the exhibition visitors can see a wide range ofmasks used by various tribes on different occasionssuch as birth， harvest， marriage and death rituals.“One characteristic of Sub-Saharan African art isthat their art exists in their daily life，”said Liu Hongwu， Director of ZNU’sInstitute of African Studies.

　　For example， the Dogon people，who mostly live in the central plateausof Mali， have a special funeralceremony known as “dama.” Dogonsdance wearing more than eightkinds of masks to communicate withthe deceased. Their masks depictan array of animal images， includingrabbits， lizards， antelopes， birds andmonkeys.

　　Through the exhibit’s re-creationof scenes of life and dailyutensils， customs and culturesof different ethnic groups in theregion are vividly depicted， offeringviewers a chance to gain someinsight into their lives.

　　In addition to African masks andthe daily utensils used by differentethnic groups， photos of famous Western works arealso on display.

　　“We hope to show visitors how African art exerted aprofound influence on Western modern and contemporaryart movements， including expressionism，cubism， fauvism and abstract art，” said Xu Liang， theexhibition’s project manager.

　　Africa remains， for many people， a place of exoticismand mystery， home to myriad forms of traditionalculture， rituals and customs. “While we can see its influencein the canon of the 20th century art from theWest， the tribal cultures that inspired Picasso and hiscontemporaries are often under-appreciatedin their own right，” commented WangChunjie， Director of Shanghai HimalayasMuseum.

　　Experiencing African life

　　There is also an interactive area for visitorsto participate in events that feature Africanmusic， dance， food， currency and art.

　　“Our educational events are mainlyto help visitors better understand the closerelations between African art and theirdaily life through participating in variouscultural events，” said Liu Lin，head of the museum’s education andpromotion department.

　　According to Liu， different classessuch as African drumming， music anddance have been organized duringthe weekends. Participants can evenlearn some simple African languagethrough reciting African children’s songs at the class.

　　Li Anqi believes the museum is the best place tolearn about cultures， especially exotic ones. “Apartfrom seeing the real artworks， we need to gain acomprehensive understanding of the culture throughlistening to music and watching videos，” she said.

　　Bridging the communication gap

　　For Botswanan Kabalano Rampa， President of the BotswanaStudents’ Association in China， hosting eventslike this exhibition will help bridge the communicationgap. Having studied for an MBA at Nanchang Universityin Jiangxi Province for one year， he feels there arestill some misunderstandings between Chinese andAfricans. “It’s not just about language， but more aboutcultural communicationsin termsof history andculture，” he toldChinAfrica.

　　He believes thatonce the communicationgap isbridged， it will beeasier for ideas toflow and for peopleto work together.“We will appreciateeach other morewhen we understand ourcultural differences， whilecultural similarities will helpeach other to relate，” he said.

　　“China and Africa [ties]can only be made strong bydeep and broad understandingof their cultural valuesand cultural differences，”echoed Nigerian artist NjokuSaint Jerry A.， who believescultural understanding iscritical for China-Africa relations.

　　“This exhibition shows how close weare. We are much closer to your culture than Europeanor American culture，” said Ambassador AntoineGhonda， the representative of the President of theDemocratic Republic of Congo. “In such a small environment，Chinese visitors can learn about our diversecultures. It’s very impressive，” he said.

　　“Even though we are from different continents，we share many similarities， including our family andcommunity values，” said He Meng， Counselor at theDepartment of African Affairs of China’s Ministry ofForeign Affairs.

　　Rampa hopes in the future， there will be moreexhibitions of this kind with bigger scale and artworksfrom more of Africa’s culturally diverse countries.