Robert Farris Thompson, Visiting Artist Lecture 1998

Art historian, Professor and writer Robert Farris Thompson gives a lecture at Skowhegan exploring the history of Congo from the continent of Africa. Thompson shows a series of films from Hollywood of characters to explore the history of Congo influence and talks about how it arrived to the South through the slave trade. He draws on Charleston and New Orleans to explore the meaning of African dance, African Art in Motion through a series of archival photographs and historical images of paintings, sculptures, and study of altars of the Black Atlantic world. Thompson ends his lecture by performing with the participants to experience Congo dancing.