Smithsonian exhibit is artfully animalistic

This multimedia, multi-era exhibit explores the role of animal imagery in African art. There’s a fascinating not-quite-paradox at work here: Animals are often used as representations of different human characteristics, but their depiction is typically based on direct observation of the animals in their natural habitats. The leopard, for example, is often associated with leadership, accounting for its depiction in ceremonial robes for rulers along with thrones, bowls, and — as we see in one stunning example from Budja peoples of Congo — masks.

Perception of other animals changes with the passage of time. Dogs were once widely seen as friends who would venture beyond the boundaries of the village and into the forest to hunt malevolent spirits who would threaten man. In contemporary times, packs of feral dogs endanger the inhabitants of cities, a shift in fortune the Johanesburg-born artist and writer David Koloane examines in his paintings of ghostly, blank-eyed canines.