Artistic Links
“Harriet Tubman Escape Techniques”
When is the next movie from serious Harriet Tubman nerds (who have a healthy respect for worldwide African history) about the technical/military techniques used by Harriet Tubman? So far comedians (like the Wayans “brothers”) always place their escaped slave skits somewhere in the bushes. These clowns forget that Ms. Tubman used urban plots featuring trains:
Another strategy that she used was common to all battlefield operations; the knowledge of knowing how and when to retreat. Many references were made to Harriet Tubman’s moves when she suspected that she was in danger. “When she feared the party was closely pursued, she would take it for a time on a train southward bound. No one seeing Negroes going in this direction would, for and instant, suppose them to be fugitives.”
Once on her return she was at a railroad station. She saw some men reading a poster and she heard one of them reading it aloud. It was a description of her, offering a reward for her capture. She took a southbound train to avoid suspicion.
How did a woman that could not read use trains regularly?
El Anatsui
elanatsui.com: “El Anatsui was born 1944 in Anyako, Ghana. El earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Sculpture and a Postgraduate Diploma in Art Education from the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. He is Professor of Sculpture at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he has lectured since 1975. He exhibited at the 1990 Venice Biennale, where he received an honorable mention and was included in the Johannesburg Biennale in 1995 as well as the Gwanju Bienniale, Gwanju, South Korea, 2004. His most recent solo exhibition Gawu has toured Europe, Asia and North America. He is included in the anthology exhibition Africa Remix, which has toured Dusseldorf, London and Paris and will travel to Tokyo and other cities in 2006/7. His work is in numerous public and private collections including: Asele Institute, The British Museum, Centre Pompidou, de Young Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum Kunst Palast, The Newark Museum, Nigeria National Art Gallery, Segataya Museum and the Smithsonian Institution.”
“Clean Green Street Art”
From Matt Chapman: “A number of street artists around the world have taken to expressing themselves through an innovative practice known as Reverse Graffiti. Taking a cue from the “Wash Me” messages scrawled on the back of delivery trucks, they seek out soot covered surfaces and inscribe them with images, tags, and even advertising slogans using scrub brushes, scrapers and pressure hoses.”