Compare and contrast ancient motivations for creating visual imagery on walls (communication of ideas, ritual, tradition, commemoration, status) with, for example, Arab Spring graffiti (and further examples from the Occupy movement) to demonstrate that wall art continues and still means some of the same things.Īs this article on artists in the midst of civil unrest suggests, “prior to the uprising, graffiti wasn’t much in evidence in … The wall was not for people …. The simple reclaiming of these public surfaces was an act of defiance in itself against the government. The students will have seen prehistoric cave paintings by this point and might look at wall paintings in the interior of mastabas and pyramids during this lesson.
You might begin the lesson by asking the students what they know about the Arab Spring or about the activities in Tahrir Square. Ancient leaders used art and architecture to demonstrate their dominance, as did more contemporary figures likes Saddam Hussein in the 1980s during Iraq’s border wars with Iran. During the Arab Spring, and in its still-unstable aftermath, the role of the artist is still important, giving voice to political opinion and potentially stabilizing or subverting power. For example, what does it mean to view funerary objects in a museum, as opposed to within sealed tombs that were never meant to be seen by the public?Īt the time of uploading this content, newspaper headlines reflect the state of civil turmoil in present-day Egypt. When the class looked at objects and sites from Prehistory and the Ancient Near East, they may have discussed architecture and design as statements of power and control.
Initial discussions can also build off of local museum collections (if available), with students considering how objects in the museum differ from the objects in their original contexts. This can lead to a discussion of how museum exhibitions, Hollywood films, and the media shape perceptions of certain cultures that may or may not correlate with historical truths. An icebreaker to begin the lecture might be to simply ask what students associate with the art of ancient Egypt.
As Ancient Egyptian Art spans a wide time frame, a thematic approach is helpful to conceptually link the wide range of objects that will be viewed during the lecture.
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