Tourist Guide

African Art at the Brooklyn Museum

My friends and I went to the Brooklyn Museum after school on a Tuesday afternoon.  The weather wasn’t particularly pretty that day, but it wasn’t too much of a hindrance.  We came into the museum and we were lucky enough to have a tour guide help us with our quandaries.  Our tour guide was a short, elderly woman who seemed genuinely interested in what she did, and that was to guide us through the various arts and crafts in the African section of the museum.  She started off by talking to us about an elephant made out of earthly materials, and talked about its influence as a power figure.  We continued along as she pointed out other things that she found most interesting, and that included chairs, masks, statues and staves.  She seemed very well practiced in her expertise with African history, and by the end of the tour, I was pleased with the amount of knowledge I gained about Africa.  Despite the vast distance between our generation and that of ancient African culture, there were a bunch of similar themes in things like power figures and spirituality.  Any tourist should definitely check out the Brooklyn Museum when he or she has the chance!