Mystical Graffiti and the Refabulation of Dakar

Jane Dwyer Memorial Lecture

Mystical Graffiti and the Refabulation of Dakar

Thursday, March 19, 5:30 p.m.

Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Manning Hall, Main Green, Brown University

In conjunction with Brown’s “Year of Focus on Africa,” Allen F. Roberts (UCLA Department of World Arts & Culture) will discuss the complexities of artist Pape Diop’s wall graffiti in Dakar’s inner city depicting Cheikh Amadou Bamba, the Senegalese holy man whose writings and life lessons are central to the Sufi movement known as the Mouride Way. What diff erentiates Diop’s works from those of Dakar’s other street artists is the layering of his portraits: he paints image upon image and in doing so, produces astonishing effects, among them a three-dimensionality known as autostereopsis, which seems to reach out to viewers, or to receive them into mesmerizing intricacies. Bamba’s portrait is based upon the only known photograph of the man, taken in 1913; yet Mourides consider the portrait to be an active presence, which conveys God’s blessings (baraka).  Diop’s mystical graffiti transforms the streets, making them protective and promotional of well-being.

Lecture takes place in Manning Hall. Reception follows.

Th is lecture is supported by donations to the Jane Dwyer Memorial Lecture Fund and the Friends of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology.