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Jamal Cyrus: Currents & Currencies

Past exhibition
November 8, 2019 - January 11, 2020
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Jamal Cyrus, Djeli Brown, 2019
Jamal Cyrus, Djeli Brown, 2019
Jamal Cyrus, Djeli Brown, 2019
Jamal Cyrus, Djeli Brown, 2019
Jamal Cyrus, Djeli Brown, 2019
Jamal Cyrus, Djeli Brown, 2019
Jamal Cyrus, Djeli Brown, 2019

Jamal Cyrus

Djeli Brown, 2019
found garment with leather pouches, marker
80 1/2 x 50 3/4 in (204.5 x 128.9 cm)
JCY 85
Image: Jessi Bowman

Further images

  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 1 ) Jamal Cyrus, Sargassum, 2019
  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 2 ) Jamal Cyrus, Sargassum, 2019
  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 3 ) Jamal Cyrus, Sargassum, 2019
  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 4 ) Jamal Cyrus, Sargassum, 2019
  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 5 ) Jamal Cyrus, Sargassum, 2019
  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 6 ) Jamal Cyrus, Sargassum, 2019
  • (View a larger image of thumbnail 7 ) Jamal Cyrus, Sargassum, 2019
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“Djeli Brown” explores the rich history and dialogue between music from the United States and Africa. Cyrus purchased this Dashiki garment and deconstructed it in his studio. He began by...
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“Djeli Brown” explores the rich history and dialogue between music from the United States and Africa. Cyrus purchased this Dashiki garment and deconstructed it in his studio.  He began by adding the yellow color in the lower half to represent a map of Ancient Mali.  The triangles represent some of the trade routes in this area on which goods, such as gold, salt, slaves, copper, etc., were sold, as well on which itinerant Djelis (a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, or musician) would travel and hire out their services to nobility. In 1971 James Brown and his new band The Original JB's, which consisted of bass legend Bootsy Collins and his brother guitarist Phelps "Catfish" Collins, toured part of this area. Cyrus was not able to recover all of the locations which James Brown and his band visited, so he instead used lines from a flight map of the Nigerian Airline Arik Air to approximate their travels. In this work the artist is connecting two distinct traditions of black music and two distinct points in time, as well as attempting to recover some of the lost or hidden aspects of black music.

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Provenance

From the artist's studio; Collection of the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University  

Exhibitions

Jamal Cyrus: Currents and Currencies, Inman Gallery, Houston, TX, November 8, 2019 - January 11, 2020

 

"Six Decades at the Rose Art Museum", Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, June 25, 2021-2024 (exact close date TBD)

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