May 31, 2005

Purdue Galleries offers visions of African culture

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – For the summer season, Purdue Galleries is offering an exhibit that represents contemporary African culture and expressions of human rights in the Stewart Center Gallery.

The exhibit, entitled Voices of Human Rights, opened May 23 and will be on display through Aug. 5. It is free and open to the public.

Voices of Human Rights presents the promise of the burgeoning South African democracy in a portfolio of black-and-white woodcuts from the Purdue Galleries permanent collection. In the aftermath of apartheid, the official policy of racial segregation practiced in the country until 1992, an Images of Human Rights portfolio was assembled to celebrate the creation of the South African Bill of Rights.

Each of the 27 clauses of the Bill of Rights is represented in the portfolio by an image from an individual South African artist.

When the prints were exhibited in 2003, the Haraka Writers, a performing ensemble from Purdue's Black Cultural Center, presented a reading of poetry composed to reflect upon the images in the exhibit and the individual clauses of the South African Bill of Rights.

Those written works have been included in the current Visions of Human Rights display as a lasting expression of the graphic images in the portfolio.

"These are powerful and very valuable images for American audiences," said Craig Martin, director of Purdue Galleries. "In light of the relatively new South African Bill of Rights commemorated in the exhibit, it is ironic that there is concern in this country over the current lack of appreciation for elements of our own Bill of Rights. A recent national study shows an alarming level of teen apathy toward the First Amendment and a lack of understanding of what is protected by it."

The Stewart Center Gallery is open between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on weekdays throughout the summer. Individual and group visits also can be arranged by appointment by contacting Mary Ann Anderson of Purdue Galleries at (765) 496-7899, galleries@purdue.edu.

Writer: Aaron Martin, (765) 496-3133, martinac@purdue.edu

Source: Craig Martin, (765) 494-3061, cdmartin@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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