Zimbabwe : art, symbol and meaning /
This book is an in-depth look at the historical art of the three cultures of Zimbabwe: the Shona, Ndebele, and Tonga. It traces how art, in a historical African context, is never separated from life, but remains an existential tool of meaning embedded in daily life itself. Consequently, art is found...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Milan, Italy :
5 Continents Editions,
[2020]
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| Summary: | This book is an in-depth look at the historical art of the three cultures of Zimbabwe: the Shona, Ndebele, and Tonga. It traces how art, in a historical African context, is never separated from life, but remains an existential tool of meaning embedded in daily life itself. Consequently, art is found in sacred and functional items, in interiors, fashion, personal gestures, and communal events. Art functions differently in this context, for it is the language of the symbol, a language that reconciles the interrelationship of the human psyche to others and to the universe itself. The book opens a window onto Africa's symbolism, confirming that the mind naturally computes according to two parallel codes: the outer code of sensory awareness, and the inner code of subjective awareness. And tracing the workings of sub-Saharan Africa's aesthetic code, ubiquitous to all her cultures, is to reveal Africa's symbolism as a parallel language of philosophical expression. That is the story of this book. More than two hundred images of Zimbabwe's historical art, taken during a window of time when it was still possible to find it, reveal how art is expressed across life as the language of spiritual and cultural meaning and a way of ensuring that such meaning was never far from individual awareness. |
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| Physical Description: | 255 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 32 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 252-253). |
| ISBN: | 9788874399451 8874399456 |