The Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society Rockhampton will welcome Nirvana Romell, visiting Australia from her bases in Switzerland and the UK, to town for the first stop on her Australian ADFAS speaking tour.
Nirvana’s illustrated presentation, ‘An Introduction to African sub-Saharan Traditional Art’ will take place at 10.30am on Saturday 5 th August 2023 at St Theresa’s Church on the
corner of Bolsover and Albert Streets, Rockhampton.
In Africa, art has been used to replace a postal service, help with marriage problems and deal with unruly teenagers.
Yet its seemingly exotic aesthetics is in many ways much closer to Western art than one may assume.
This easy-going introduction into African art focuses on general misconceptions, basic facts, influences of Africa on Europe and vice versa.
It also provides guidance as to how to look at African art and how to learn more. Sub Saharan art is not often explored within the ADFAS repertoire, so we are fortunate to have Nirvana Romell’s expertise here in Rockhampton to discover this area of art.
Nirvana Romell holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in the History of Art and Master of Arts in English Language and Literature and is an alumnus of Cambridge University, UK, where she also lectures.
Since her arrival in the UK in 2003, Nirvana has worked as a freelance lecturer, public programmes consultant and tour director.
She has regularly presented art history courses and lectures, as well as trained staff and volunteers, at the Manchester Art Gallery, the Walker Gallery in Liverpool, University of Manchester, and other art and learning institutions.
She organises and presents tours of permanent and temporary exhibitions across the UK and Europe, and study tours to the Balkans, Italy, France, Switzerland, Sweden, and South Africa. Nirvana is Croatian and lived for 10 years in South Africa which gave her the opportunity to study sub-Saharan art in detail.
All are welcome to attend this rare opportunity to learn about the art and culture of sub-Saharan Africa right here in Rockhampton, free for members to attend and $25 for visitors, which includes a generous morning tea with Nirvana after the lecture. For more information, see the Rockhampton page on www.adfas.org or ADFAS Rockhampton on Facebook.
