The Dutchman, Moyo Okediji

Jesús, Estrella, Esperanza, Mercy:
Sails flashing to the wind like weapons,
sharks following the moans the fever
and the dying; horror the corposant and compass rose.
Middle Passage:
voyage through death
to life on these shores.

Middle Passage
Robert Hayden

Grade Level 3-12
Art • Language Arts

Over the centuries, a dialogue evolved across the Atlantic as Africans came to the New World and blacks from America returned to their continent of origin. An aesthetic conversation or dialogue has recently developed between African and African American artists as they work from different perspectives to reconcile their African identity and heritage within the currents of contemporary art. The exhibition, Transatlantic Dialogue: Contemporary Art In and Out of Africa, explores the varied ways that African and African American artists interpret their ideas and identities. Similarities of style as well as diversity of expression emerge from a shared African heritage.

Transatlantic Dialogue: Exhibition of the National Museum of African Art

Transatlantic Dialogue Lesson Plan