Harn director to give gallery talk on Ethiopian exhibitions

February 2, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. –– Many Ethiopian artists remain largely unknown outside Ethiopia and a narrow circle of international curators and collectors. The Harn Museum of Art introduces a number of these artists to U.S. audiences for the first time in its current exhibition, “Continuity and Change: Three Generations of Ethiopian Artists.” Harn Museum Director Rebecca Martin Nagy, co-curator of “Continuity and Change,” will guide visitors through artworks in the exhibition and explore the history of modern and contemporary art in Ethiopia during a gallery talk at 3 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 4.

“Continuity and Change” has been the focus of Nagy’s scholarly research since 1998 when she was a curator at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, where she spent 17 years before joining the Harn Museum of Art as director in 2002. Nagy is also an affiliate member of the graduate faculty of the School of Art and Art History at the University of Florida. She was previously associate director of education and curator of African art at the North Carolina Museum of Art. She holds a doctorate in art history from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where she was an adjunct faculty member from 1988 to 2002. She has received Fulbright fellowships for study in Germany and Ghana, and has published in the areas of medieval art, archaeology and African and American modern and contemporary art.

“Continuity and Change,” co-curated by North Carolina Central University Professor Achamyeleh Debela, tells the story of art in Ethiopia from the 1940s to the present. It explores the role of Emperor Haile Selassie’s support of artists as part of a purposeful strategy for the modernization of Ethiopia. The exhibition also examines the influence of the School of Fine Arts in Addis Ababa, one of Africa’s leading art academies. In particular, “Continuity and Change” focuses on those artists who were and are active in Addis Ababa within the context of the political and social upheavals of 20th century Ethiopia. A catalogue, featuring essays by Nagy and Debela along with other noted artists and historians, is available for purchase at the Harn Museum store.

For more information about programs and events, call (352) 392-9826 or visit the Web at www.harn.ufl.edu.