YSU Cliffe College of Creative Arts announces 16th Annual African American History Month Art Show

February 1, 2023

The 16th Annual African American History Month Art Show, titled “Makonde Sculptures,” will begin Wednesday, February 1, 2023 at 5:00 PM in the Judith Rae Solomon Gallery in Bliss Hall, located on the campus of Youngstown State University. The exhibition showcases the collection of Tazim Jaffer and Dr. Nazim Jaffer.

Tazim was born in Tanzania and is an artist and visual anthropologist of Indian heritage. As a visual anthropologist, Tazim has received numerous grants to research life-cycle rituals and women's economic empowerment from African, East Indian, South Asian, and Pacific Island cultures. A significant aspect of her studies has focused primarily on Makonde wood carvings that have been marginalized in the United States and the Western world. Tazim argues that the characterization of Makonde wood sculpture as “tourist art” is inaccurate because the “traditional” aspect of Makonde sculpture is an authentic art form embedded with unique aesthetic qualities and socio-religious content in material culture. Tazim has a history of solo, invitational, group, and juried exhibitions nationally and internationally over the past 40 years.

An opening reception for the exhibition will be held Wednesday, February 1, 2023 at 5:00 PM in the Judith Rae Solomon Gallery, followed by an artist presentation and discussion at 6:00 PM in the McDonough Museum of Art lecture hall (room 3000).