My involvement in the visual arts is motivated by my love of Philosophy and the idea that we can gain more access to the mind of the Supreme Being’s creative process through the production and understanding of the visual arts.
The idea for this exhibition originated from my interest in exploring the metaphysical and philosophical principles that made Kemet (Egypt as it is now called) one of the most creative and outstanding civilizations of human history.
I have been studying the Metu Neter Volumes by Ra Un Nefer Amen and Egyptian Yoga by Dr. Muata Asby for the last three years and have been tremendously inspired by the spiritual impact of both the historical and philosophical content of these treatises.
As a curator, I wanted to use Kemetic metaphysics and art inspired by Kemet, to share some of these ideas with my international audience and particularly with young black youth in the United States, Britain and the Caribbean, who were overlooking the importance of their rich Kemetian cultural heritage. Two years ago, I started to dialogue with artists of African descent about creating works inspired by Kemetian History and Culture. Some of the artists were already doing work that was influenced by their interest in Kemet. Both Kerry Coppin and Everton Wright had already created a body of photography on Egypt. Asser-Saint-Val was very aware of Diop’s work and had produced a large number of pieces about Melanin. I was also introduced to Robin Holder primarily because of her “Karnak Seris.” Both Kristie Stephenson and Nzingah are very knowledgeable about Kemetian culture and thus were very interested in working with the concept of the show. Ms. Stephenson’s photographic interpretation of herself as Nefertiti is quite powerful and reflects a great of example of the artistic process of channeling. Nzingah’s work is also very successful in that context.
I wanted to share the spectacular, “Egyptian” photography of African American artist, Kerry Coppin in a context that would create an opportunity to discuss the significant contributions of our “African” ancestors to the development of Western Civilization. As a result, I designed a show called the “The Future of The Past,” that focused on images of the Sphinx, the pyramids and the 25th dynasty.
During the summer of 2010, I had the good fortune to spend a significant amount of time in the Egyptian Collection at the Louvre in Paris and the British Museum in London. I asked Everton Wright, a black British photographer, film maker and sculptor based in London to work on photographing some of the Egyptian collection, especially of the 25th Dynasty at the British Museum. His work lead to his creation of Black Head, Read Head, Taharqa and the Crossings. The Crossings represents a modern interpretation of Kemetian anthropomorphic iconography.
While in London, I curated a show called “ Atum Flow” that came directly from my experience of applying some of the ideas that I was gaining from the study of ancient Kemetian History, Art and Culture.
The word Atum derives from the Egyptian notion of God. (The Divine-The Supreme Being). The power of Atum Flow originates from the process of Being creating itself. Atum energy became one of my mantras and I started to engage some of the artist in the show to create work that was inspired specifically by Volume 4 of the Metu Neter Series and Egyptian Yoga. Hence, the title for the show: Atum Energy: Chanelling Kemetic Metaphysics.
What is Kemetic Metaphysics as defined by the context of this show?
Kemetic Metaphysics broadly defined includes the Tree of Life as demonstrated by the Paut Neter, the mystery of melanin, the philosophy of Metu Neter, the story of Isis, Taharqa, Nefertiti and the historical research and writings about Kemet by Cheikh Anta Diop, Ivan Van Sertima, Yosef ben-Jochannan, Asa Hillard, Dr Henrik Clarke, Runoko Rashidi, Na’im Akbar, Martin Bernal, Dr Muata Ashby, Anthony Browder and Dr. Freeman.
Link: Atum Energy Exhibition