{"id":8322,"date":"2020-11-17T13:57:19","date_gmt":"2020-11-17T13:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/media-archive.blackartinamerica.com\/?p=8322"},"modified":"2020-12-21T04:00:19","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T04:00:19","slug":"a-cultural-legacy-carved-in-wood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthexhibitions.org\/media-archive\/?p=8322","title":{"rendered":"A Cultural Legacy Carved in Wood"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Cultural Legacy Carved in Wood<\/b><\/h2>\n

by D. Amari Jackson<\/span><\/p>\n

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He is simply known as \u201cBaba Atu,\u201d yet there is nothing simple about knowing him, given his vast life experience, his 80 years of accumulated wisdom in the realms of history, philosophy, music, and art.\u00a0 It is a wisdom Atu shares freely<\/span>\u00a0for those who seek, be it in seasoned observations or poetic aphorisms, in keen insights or<\/span> mystical musings.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think I was placed here to be an example to anyone who considers himself a child of the universe, and who is living, developing and learning,\u201d says Atu, clarifying that \u201cby all means, I am here serving.\u201d Clad in African garb and perched in a chair in the center of a rented studio at the ArtsXchange in East Point, Georgia, he is surrounded by a bevy of intricate wood carvings of all dimensions. Though his speech patterns have slowed from a stroke sustained three years ago, the elder compensates by enunciating deliberately. \u201cI was the one who was placed here to be the helpmate for your growth to the next step.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A world-traveler, master percussionist, drum maker, and sculptor<\/span> versed in the artistic traditions of western Africa, Atu\u2019s many wooden carvings depict scenes of African culture,<\/span> each piece, he notes, offering \u201cits own unique story.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Combining his passion for music and visual art\u2014along with the drums, he plays<\/span> saxophone, piano, flute, and other instruments\u2014Atu has carved hundreds of sculptures<\/span> from oak, ebony, mahogany, and other woods,<\/span> maintaining<\/span> over 300 in his personal collection, 200<\/span> of them drums.<\/span> The volume and variety of his sculptures reflect his range of experiences in a life devoted to artistic expression, personal development, and communal uplift. <\/span>A man of his era, Atu lived through and was influenced by such historical watersheds as the Civil Rights, Black Power, and Black Arts movements. A half-century back, the talented instrumentalist recorded with world-renowned musicians like saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders and Sun Ra while touring under the stage name, \u201cBlack Harold<\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Undoubtedly, the emphasis is on the <\/span>Black<\/span><\/i>, in its larger, diasporic context as Atu has been known to promote the beauty of the Black woman as \u201clovely, curvilinear, and intuitive\u201d while lamenting the programmed self-hate crippling our community.\u00a0 \u201cWe won\u2019t build the quality that is us\u201d he says, because our oppressors have shamed us as \u2018big-lipped, funny-looking, and short-haired with big rumps.\u2019 But that\u2019s not a judgement, it\u2019s a description.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I happen to like that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Sculpture by Baba Atu<\/p><\/div>\n

Perhaps, for all his life experience, the most singular term to capture such a multifaceted being is <\/span>culture<\/span><\/i>. For Atu is culture incarnate, a sage soothsayer whose regal countenance, majestic demeanor, and African-centered perspective harkens to a time when we, as a community, aspired to reclaim our collective identity and shed the skewed, dominant narrative crippling us to finally see ourselves, as ourselves, as if for the first time. That said, given his recent health crisis and progressing age\u2014and a contemporary world where proximity and cohesion are significantly compromised\u2014some wonder if Atu\u2019s legacy can inspire other young culture-bearers like him, or if it will wither into a mere cultural remnant from a bygone era.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe feeling is that our children and grandchildren have abandoned or forgotten their history,\u201d<\/span> says Tafawa Hicks, an Atlanta-based photographer who, after meeting Atu three years ago, began organizing his sizable inventory and <\/span>campaigning<\/span><\/a><\/span> for a studio to house it. \u201cBut we have a legacy that we build on, and I think it does a disservice when we forget or feel that our history and legacy is outdated,\u201d says Hicks. \u201cI guess it goes back to we all belong to the same tree, but the branches have forgotten their roots.\u00a0 And without the roots, you really can\u2019t last very long.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Like buried roots, no one can see a sculpture either\u2014at least, initially,<\/span> except for the artist. Sculpture is a process based not in addition but subtraction, in stripping away to reveal what was there all along.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201cMost<\/span> of these big pieces were one solid block of wood when I first started,\u201d explains Atu. \u201cYou\u2019re continuing to carve, to go in deeper. And if you take too much away, you can’t put it back.\u201d He points to several giant faces, sunrays, and images of lions staring back at him before focusing on an intricately carved, midsized piece combining progressive, spiraling scenes with rich natural imagery. \u201cThat\u2019s the seven principles of nature,\u201d he reports, noting \u201cI never tell anybody what those seven principles are because I am not teaching theology and I want them to add what they know to these seven things that are general characteristic of everything in this universe\u2014seven basic colors, seven<\/span> days of the week, seven wonders of the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On occasion, Atu has also been known to compare himself to the numerous lions he has sculpted over the years. The similarities are apparent\u2014his<\/span> endurance, proud disposition and, given their territorial habit of living together in groups or <\/span>prides<\/span><\/i>, his focus on community. Though no longer the muscle-bound, frontline warrior coiled to pounce upon any outside threat, the senior now represents the composed, throne-bearing monarch more able to dismantle his enemies with his acute profundity than razorlike claws.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Baba Atu<\/p><\/div>\n

Fittingly, the lions were there from the beginning. Born August 10, 1940 in Birmingham, Alabama,<\/span> under<\/span> the astrological sign of<\/span> Leo, Atu\u2019s family relocated to Chicago where the nine-year-old was inspired to sculpt on the steps of the<\/span> Art Institute of Chicago Museum where two massive bronze lions frame the building\u2019s front steps.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI just knew,\u201d says Atu, recounting how his uncle used to drop him off at the museum for hours at a time. \u201cI didn\u2019t even want to go inside,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI just wanted to sit down and look at them. Oh boy.\u201d Atu insists their detailed form, musculature, and stature was the \u201cmost magnificent thing I had ever seen in my life.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At age 10, while taking piano lessons encouraged by his musical mother, the self-taught artist carved a five-inch, three-dimensional sculpture of a Black family with three children from the wood of a peach tree using an X-acto knife. Atu would continue to sculpt prolifically for seven decades and, according to him, has produced an estimated 2500 pieces, most in wood and some in clay and other materials. While acknowledging he has given away a significant amount of his works to family and friends over the years, others are more focused on housing his remaining pieces and preserving his valuable legacy given his recent health crisis.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>He really didn\u2019t have anybody looking out for him,\u201d says Hicks, who \u201ctook it upon myself to help the brother through the whole hospital thing, rehab, and getting him back into his apartment.\u201d Characterizing himself as \u201ca helper by nature,\u201d the photographer first heard of the talented senior in a 2017 radio interview and, soon after, arranged to take pictures of Atu\u2019s work at an art exhibit.<\/span> \u00a0<\/span>\u201cThe very next day he had a stroke,\u201d recounts Hicks. \u201cSo, I went from just photographing his work to helping him through this crisis.\u201d In the process, he got permission to go into Atu\u2019s storage unit and was \u201cshocked by all of the stuff he had.\u201d Hicks accessed his apartment as well, which \u201cwas really a mess<\/span> because he, apparently, had been sick for a while and just wasn’t taking care of anything. He had a lot of work there also. And that\u2019s when I really got interested in his work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After overseeing his recovery, Hicks has since devoted himself to securing a studio to store Atu\u2019s work and promote his legacy.\u00a0 This past August, he established a <\/span>GoFundMe campaign<\/span><\/a><\/span> to<\/span> rent<\/span> a studio space at the<\/span> ArtsXchange that will enable Atu to \u201ccomplete several unfinished works, display all of his sculptures in an accessible location, and archive his legacy for future generations.\u201d He also spearheaded the production of a <\/span>compelling three-minute video<\/span><\/a><\/span> with the same goals.<\/span><\/p>\n

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