The Meaning of
the Sculpture Program in
Our Mother of Africa Chapel
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The Sculptural
Elements (cont.)
The crucifix was
created through the collaboration of the Tanzanian sculptor Juvenal
Kaliki and the New York sculptor Jeffrey Brosk. Kaliki carved the figure
of Christ, and Brosk designed the cross. Kaliki’s geometric style is
shaped by a carving tradition with its origins in Entebene tribal ritual
and dates from the fifteenth century Evidence of the style is found in
the detailed masks and array of ceremonial artifacts used in that
ritual, which honors deceased ancestors and assures abundant crops and
fair weather.
With the introduction
of Christianity in the nineteenth century Tanzanian masters incorporated
Christian symbols into their art, especially the preeminent Christian
symbol, the image of Christ on the cross. Because Kaliki’s medium is
wood, his figures are usually executed in the round, which is influenced
by the natural shape of the tree. In reducing his figures to their
formal essentials, through his geometric style of carving, they are
timeless and have an affinity to the archaic sculpture of antiquity and
to modern abstractions. Kaliki has carved the figure of Christ in ebony,
a black hardwood, appropriate to the African American theme of the
sacred conversation and compatible with Ed Dwight’s African American
Mother of Africa and Christ Child.
Jeffrey Brosk’s cross
was hewn in cherry wood. He has retained the irregularity of the bark
surfaces and natural curves of the tree, organic forms which act as
foils to Kaliki’s geometric carving of the figure of Christ. The natural
tone and grain of the wood are brought out by oils worked into its
surfaces. An arc in the grain of the cross beam directly above the head
of Christ suggests a natural aura, and subtle patterns in the grain of
the vertical beam approximate tears, bringing to mind that when Christ
died, all nature mourned.
The crucifix is
suspended in the chapel above the altar and appropriately illuminated to
emphasize its preeminence in the sacred conversation. On the altar, the
Sacrifice of the Mass is celebrated and draws its power from the
Sacrifice of the Cross, whose fruits it dispenses to all people. Sealed
within the the altar, which is the symbol of faith, are the names of the
benefactors who contributed to the Our Mother of Africa Chapel and
Endowment Fund.
The collaboration
of Juvenal Kaliki and Jeffrey Brosk in the crucifix of Our Mother of
Africa Chapel transcends space and time and reaches across the
transatlantic thoroughfare of the Middle Passage as if to reaffirm
humanity’s unity in the Mystical Body of Christ.
Our Mother of Africa Chapel
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