Word: enamels
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...dictates of their tribal societies have not kept pace with the times. The nomadic Turkana women of East Africa still perfume their bodies over fires of scented wood. The Hausa wives of northern Nigeria still amass huge fortunes in the form of thousands upon thousands of Japanese-made enamel bowls, which they cram into their huts, causing at least one Hausa husband to complain bitterly: "I don't even have enough room to pray...
...November, bullets were fired through the windows of the Street Journal's offices. The glass front door was smashed, and 2,500 copies of the paper (circ. 8,000) were stolen. On Christmas Day, typesetting equipment was smashed and filled with enamel paint. In January, a commune member's car was destroyed by fire-bombing while it was parked outside commune headquarters. Intimidating phone calls became common; some threatened death...
Pieces of enamel fill the cases with boxes and plaques decorated with scenes or figures of Christ laced with floral designs. Abundant examples of metalwork-chalices, statues and relic boxes-also emphasize the craftsmanship of the time. A tall hollow arm, with us fingers extended (used once to hold relics), shows a peculiar aspect of their taste more foreign to the modern eye than the abstract designs...
Colors in the metalwork, enamel and stained glass imbue the rooms with rich tone: the people were not just surrounded with the gray gloom of the stone cathedrals. Large illuminated books also brighten the exhibition. But the works that insist on stopping you, that freeze their image on your mind, are the quiet sculptures of stone and wood. One large majestic figure of Christ on the cross stares straight ahead, alive but unaware of the nails in his hands: his strong body, as stiff as the shape of the cross, seems beyond the ability to feel physical pain...