|
shikra is more than an online-gallery for African art!
|
Top:
Ancestor cult: Egungun;
Benin, February 2005
Middle:
The belief in witchcraft is strong: death makes an appearance;
Benin, February 2005
Bottom:
Voodoo can also heal: a patient drinks from a human skull;
Benin, February 2005 |
Eric Makin – Founder and owner of shikra
Eric Makin has been travelling regularly to Africa for more than 20 years and has visited over 25 African countries, many of them several times.
This interest in Africa brought him into contact with the fascinating world of African art. His wide knowledge of African culture and politics has provided him with a solid foundation in understanding the complex worlds of traditional and contemporary art of the continent.
He is also the owner of docuserve,
a Hamburg based technical documentation and translation company, which he founded in 1987.
Synergy: shikra - docuserve
African art dictionary
Due to many years of experience in the translation field, docuserve and shikra are in the process of producing the first online German-English dictionary for African art. It is also intended to publish the dictionary in book form thus enabling African art lovers to better understand English language publications.
Further services
Due to close cooperation between the two companies we are able to offer a larger portfolio of services.
The presentation and sale of African art pieces are joined by the professional production of web sites and online shops (see "web and shop design”) as well as a wide range of translation services (see "specialist translations of African art”).
|
 |
shikra – selected African art
shikra was founded in August 2005 as an online-gallery and shop for traditional and contemporary African art.
shikra offers a choice of carefully selected pieces of art from various African countries.
Criteria for selecting a piece?
The criteria for selecting the pieces are varied.
They range from assessing the beauty and power of a piece, through to whether the piece has been regularly used for ceremonial purposes. The provenance, if any, also plays an important role.
A voodoo fetish may not have the same aesthetic beauty as that of a Dan mask but it exudes power and vitality due to it being regularly covered in sacrificially offerings.
Arguably it could be said that such a piece is never "finished” and is continually undergoing a process of metamorphosis which gives such figures a dynamic that the sculptor may never have intended. |
|
