Sunday, September 27, 2009

Gambia Artist Momodou Ceesay


Momodou describes his artwork as an exploration of images that inculcate a system of values that are consistent with his culture and heritage. His objective is to take the viewer on a spiritrual odyssey that suggests unseen dimensions.

ON MY KNEES BEFORE THESE MIGHTY HEAVENS
It is seldom in the world of words, and in the world of visual art that the two distinct expressions of creativity are combined to put forth a powerful and moving story; a story of an African man's spiritual journey, a poetic odyssey called "On My Knees Before These Mighty Heavens"

In 1990 Momodou spent some time in New York creating designs for a greeting card company called Heritage Collections. During this period he worked with the homeless and visited the Bowery Mission often. He was inspired from this experience to write this epic poem.

 The work uses excerpts from Hebrew Scripture and the Koran to describe the searching of a better life for African and African American people. Momodou Ceesay adds to the virtual reality of the story line by delineating the poem with 36 of his original paintings. Some of these paintings for the book were executed during his stay as an artist-in-residence at the Center for the Arts and Religion, Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC.


In this book, the protagonist, Issa Kujabi, in righteous indignation, seeks an audience with God, in order to lament about the condition of his people. The book speaks of social injustice, the coldheartedness of the ruling elite in Africa; the phenomena of Africa's current demise, all done with poetry and art.


 "Through a dialogue, the poem begins with the particular destruction, genocide and suffering of African people and of their descendants in the diaspora. The scope is then widened to include the negative forces that seem to grip the planet as a whole. It moves from despair to vision as the dialogue progresses, endingg with a revelation giving reasons for suffering, and what the future holds for Africa and the world as a whole"


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220 4464022
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