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Indepth Arts News:
"Ancestors & Orishas: Glass & Mixed Media Sculptures Tracing African Roots by David Medina"
2005-03-07 until 2005-06-02
Franklin H Williams Caribbean Cultural Center
New York, NY,
USA United States of America
Tracing the lineage of his ancestors and their spiritual beliefs, Dominican/American artist, David Medina presents a glass and mixed media exhibition marking his ancestral journey from Africa to the Dominican Republic to the Brooklyn neighborhood of his youth. The glass sculptures depict the various “orishas” (gods) of the African belief system known as Regla de Ocha. Working with glass and bronze castings, neon lights, steel and chicken wire, Medina creates fourteen pieces based on Carnival characters of the Dominican Republic’s masquerade and African Egungun ceremonies.
David’s work includes references to African masked costumes like Nigerian egungun, Dominican diablo cojuelos, science fiction, and pioneering educational shows like Sesame Street with a special fondness for the pop icon Big Bird. “Although the religious practices of the Dominican Republic differ from those of Cuban Santeria, Brazilian Candomble and the original African religions,” notes Medina, “I have always chosen to see the similarities between them. I feel that most religions are expressions of the same oneness.”
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