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Seraphic Light The conceptual association of transcendence and art seems related to the widespread compositional mode in various African based arts. How one finds or recognizes revelatory experience in these sacred objects in which is hidden some mysterious power is a matter of belief and of art. One seeks this answer through an Africentric vision that is contained within the sacred verses of the Yoruba people. These verses point to people, places, and objects where the experience of revelation is made possible through a sacred reading as visible signs of that which is hidden. One maintains that the sacred texts, called Odu Ifa, contain four branches of knowledge: religion, history, medicine, and science. Each morning at sunrise I took a quiet walk alone to collect fresh water from a small stream that ran thru the green hills behind the campus of Vermont College, Montpelier, VT. This act of humility and discipline enacted in solitude allowed each day to begin with grace, with power, with 'ashe,' as I said a few words of thanks to the forces that guide and control our lives. The beginning point of this journey rests in the Black Atlantic diasporaic and the continuing duality of that experience, as frustrating, yet rich and complex, as it is. I propose that out of the negative plantation images that prevailed from the 1880's - 1930's the Black Atlantic experience has transcended the stereotyping and has become politicized and increasingly multi-dimensional. This vision is rooted in African American realities that cannot be confined to modern or postmodern analysis. |