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Mary Lee Brady, Ph. D.
| Images evoked by dominant graphic, performing and other artists, architects and even archeologists very much help impact the world we live in and relationships with each other whether we imagine it or not. The famed European Renaissance that began in 15th century Italy among the Latin culture that survived the fall of the Roman Empire a thousand years before, ... redefined virtue and beauty to be essentially teenage White girls; and, faith and courage to be that of rich and powerful men like the Medici bishops and popes who patronized artistic genius. And, while we also applaud the art, we are mindful to condemn the anti-Black sentiments that raped and plundered Africa and the Americas to pay for it.
Ironically, one in four persons in the ancient empire were slaves; and, the Romans were imperialists and did not define White color skin or straight hair as a sign of superiority. But, like the Greeks before them they most admired men of any color who were courageous in battle. In fact, among the most famous people in Rome were the gladiators, ... more often than not men who were Black or Brown from Roman conquests in Africa and Asia.
The catacombs under the hills of Rome, from at least 100 C.E. to the era of Constantine beginning around 300 C. E. were filled at night with slaves (Black, Brown and White) many of whom were Hebrew born and practicing their new-found belief in Jesus as their savior from the evil empire stretching across the known world.
It is for certain their prayers were not in Latin, and few if any Roman citizens were in their midst to betray them. The below painting on the walls of one such catacomb in the first century, ... subscribes to the African-Centric theory that Jesus looked like what artistic believers believed and wanted to believe. Feminine minded artists like Michael Angelo and his sponsors gave biblical characters the faces and body forms they perceived as artistic truths. By the time of Renaissance across England, France and Germany it was a natural occurrence for artists to portray him to be like them, ... bearded middle-aged White men. The blond hair and blue-eyed Jesus came into existence in the 19th century imperial age that also gave birth to Adolph Hitler and various theories about Aryan and Nordic superiority.
The purpose of our galleries is help highlight to youth generations around the world as to how African-Centric gifted minds see themselves and "the least of us." Beauty is after all is said and done, in the eyes of the beholder. If youth are not exposed to beauty in the home and even womb, how will they know it when found. Who tells them they are naked? And, who do they seek to emulate? Why? Graphic arts, like the music evolved by people of African heritage in the Americas, Caribbean and Africa itself is all about men and women not only trying to earn a living doing it but also expressing their feelings about the sights, smells, tastes, and sounds they have experienced. The attitudes of most such artists is that if you want an exact replication of what you hear or see, ... then buy a tape recorder or make a photograph. Like Louis Armstrong and all the other great ones up from slavery, ... they hear and see what matters to themselves. We applaud the graphic artists for their help in offsetting degenerative images portrayed by so-many performing artists --- for the God of Hollywood, the almighty dollar for denigrating portrayals. Many are horrible reminders of a dark past of pretenders and imitators of life. To be sure, entertainers in television and movies generally distort African heritage reality, --- and most super rich rappers are little more than ignorant minstrels of our recent past. Yes, they earn a lot of money; but, so did "Birmingham Brown" in the Charlie Chan movies of the 1930s that profited hundreds, shamed millions, ... but entertained many millions more in shaping views of African-Americans not yet up from enslaved minds. The secondary reason for these galleries is to introduce youth generations to artists that have gained increasing patronage among older generations of educated and enlightened patrons of the arts. A third reason is your donations via this site will help us help meet our non-profit financial needs in developing various web-sites and related research projects that include reviewing images from past years "up from slavery and denigration". If you have not visited an African heritage art gallery, including those featuring the arts of ancient Kam (Upper Egypt) and Khem (Lower Egypt) before the Greeks conquered and renamed it in their own image --- try to do so. There are artists out there who need to know you care.
Indeed, there are still hundreds of struggling artists in Africa and the Caribbean who walk the beaches and literally beg tourists to look at their world of art. And, we need not tell you perhaps that some unknown artists are in the jails and prisons producing arts that current and future generation will know they lived, loved and died in the spirit that moved them. You can be a patron of the arts, if not already so. Visit your local galleries. |
Copyright © 2010 Brady Enterprise Association, Inc. Last modified: 05/12/10 |
