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through the cosmos. Exhibiting at the Harlem Fine Arts Show in New York “felt like a dream come true,” but DC will be more of a homecoming for her because she earned her Bachelor’s degree when she studied fine arts 25 years ago at the Mount Vernon Seminary and College, now known as the Mount Vernon Campus of the George Washington Univer- sity. “My dream has been to have a universal message that speaks to everyone, so I feel like I’m being offered a much wider audience and that’s such a blessing,” Bengu said.
Bengu reminds us that South African art is rich in history
and goes all the way back to the 4,000-year-old cave paint- ings of the San Bushmen. She said that the African conti- nent has always been rich, creatively, and that that is why one of the art world’s most famous painters, Pablo Picasso, was so influenced by African art.
Picasso’s African period came during 1907-1909 using shapes of human figures from traditional African sculp- tures, the ones Fanner mentioned as being from the “dark ages.”The Picasso piece that marks the pinnacle of Cubism, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon—a depiction of five women—
Top: Artist Ndabuko Julukani Ntuli above a close-up detail of his layered mixed media artwork. Above right,full view of artwork by Ntuli. Left: Artist John Adams talks about his creative process.
HARLEM FINE ARTS SHOW MAGAZINE PAGE 37
PHOTO: COURTESY OF WOODROW NASH