Plan Your Visit       Hours & Directions       About Peterborough       Teachers       Lesson Plans       Booking Tours       Contact Things to See       Current Exhibit       Take A Look       Explore the Museum       Hands On       Our Instruments       Gift Shop       Library       Slide Show       Youtube       Archives Things to Do       Calendar       Upcoming Events       Workshops       E-News Signup About the Museum       Description       Dreamer & Founder       Mission       Membership       History       Board & Staff       Partnerships       Grantors Home		Take a Look: Africa Jomo Kenyatta, the founding father of the Kenyan nation and its first Prime Minister and President, often held a Masai fly whisk like this one as a sign of authority. The fly whisk is also an important symbol to the Luo people (President Obama's African ancestors) so his grandmother reportedly brought one to him as an inauguration present. This Barbie from South Africa wears traditional Ndebele dress. Her black and white patterned dress is topped with a colorful ngurara (cape). On her legs and neck she wears the golden rings known as izixolwana. The gold and red head piece and hoop earrings give her a regal beauty. "Out of Africa" features the diverse cultures of this vast continent with exhibits and performances from February 6 until early June. The exhibits will include sculpture, masks, jewelry, toys and clothing from the Berbers and Tuareg of Morocco, the Ashanti of Ghana and Masai of Kenya, the Yoruba of Nigeria and Fulani of the Sahel, and the many peoples of southern Africa, including the Ndebele and the Bushmen of the Kalahari. The eclectic mix of artifacts in the exhibits highlights the color, diversity, charm and artistic beauty in African Culture. Stunning wood statuary shares space with whimsical toys of recycled metal, bright bead necklaces and trade cloth, adinkra stamps and kente cloth from Ghana, caps with amulets or gris-gris that confer protection on the hunter and spears and shields that Masai herdsmen use to protect their cattle and themselves from lions. The exhibits will also include objects from the African diaspora in the Caribbean and Brazil. The artifacts are both from the Museum's permanent collection and also from the collections of friends of the Mariposa, who have had their own rich experiences in Africa including Jim and Polly Curran, Frank and Martha Manley, Nic Fox, Robert Johnson, Liz Thomas, Connie Gray and Mary Blake. Programs and performances for "Out of Africa" including the Spring Senior Seniors will also call on the expertise of friends of the Mariposa as Segun and Seyi Olorunfemi, Richard Estes and Hilary Feldstein and Scott McGovern. The Mariposa will host a 3-day dance residency for the Akwaaba Dance Ensemble of Ghana, directed by Theo Martey and a Rwandan drumming and dance performance by Vanginanga Ensemble featuring Vincent Nsengiyumva. A complete list of programs and performances can be found on the Mariposa Museum's website www.mariposamuseum.org. The gift shop will feature contemporary beaded jewelry from Tanda Zulu, which supports orphans and vulnerable children at the Thanda After-School Project in South Africa. The opening on First Friday will be celebrated with refreshments from North Africa. There will be a KidCraft: Adinkra printing from 5:00-6:00pm. Two Jbala musicians from the mountains of northeastern Morocco play music from Andalucia in Spain, where women had their own bands! Ostrich eggs hold water for the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert. The hole is plugged with a tuft of grass. Two Tuareg figures, called "les hommes bleus" (the blue men) in Morocco. The Tuareg live in and around the Sahara. Metal castanets played in ginewa music developed by slaves from Guinea, accompanying a stringed drum (the three strings are plucked at the same time the skin is struck). A dancer wearing a hat with seashells goes into a trance, his head turning in circles. On special nights called hadra the music is performed to heal and ward off evil. It may have been the origin of Brazil's capoeira music. A wooden stool or headrest from the Turkana of Kenya or the Karamojong of Uganda. This turquoise-colored leather talisman case from Mali is worn around a man's neck. It holds Koranic verses or magical substances to protect the man and his herd. Take a look at more folk art: Africa Americas Europe Japan Latin America Oceania Southeast Asia Subcontinent Vietnam When children are raised with respect and curiosity towards other cultures, the world will know more peace and less war. Plan Your Visit | Things to See | Things to Do | About the Museum | Admin | Home | Contact 26 Main Street ~ Peterborough, New Hampshire ~ 03458 Southern New Hampshire's Year Round Arts Community 603.924.4555 © 2010 Mariposa Museum & World Culture Center. All rights reserved. Top