Harmonia Rosales and CCH Pounder: Conversation and Book Signing Celebrating Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic
Wed, February 11th at 5:30 PM - 8:30 PM
NOMA is delighted to welcome acclaimed artist Harmonia Rosales in celebration of her new book, Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic.
The evening opens with a book signing, followed by a moderated conversation between Rosales and actress and art collector CCH Pounder. This conversation will be moderated by Dr. Redell Hearn, NOMA’s Chief Educator.
This program is free and open to the public; copies of Chronicles of Ori are available for purchase through the NOMA Museum Shop during the program. Registration is highly encouraged. Seating is limited, but standing room will be available. Registration does not guarantee having a physical seat for the program.
This program is in conjunction with NOMA’s Book Club. Join us on February 5th for a discussion on Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic.
Program Schedule
5:30 PM | Book Signing with Harmonia Rosales in the Coleman Courtyard
The NOMA Museum Shop will have copies of Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic available for purchase.
6:30 – 8:30 pm| Conversation with Harmonia Rosales and CCH Pounder in NOMA’s Lapis Center for the Arts
Conversation moderated by NOMA’s Chief Educator, Dr. Redell Hearn, in the Lapis Center for the Arts.
About the Speakers and Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic
Harmonia Rosales
Harmonia Rosales, Artist and Author of Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic
CCH Pounder
Actress and art collector CCH Pounder
Award-winning actress CCH Pounder has been extensively involved with the arts as a patron, collector, gallery owner and museum founder. Ms. Pounder’s Collection consists of Caribbean and African artists and artists of the African Diaspora. The Collection, which comprises over 500 pieces, is heavily concentrated in the area of Contemporary Art but also includes traditional African sculptures. In 1992, Ms. Pounder and her husband, the late Boubacar Koné, founded and built the Musée Boribana, the first privately owned contemporary museum in Dakar Senegal, which they gifted to that nation in 2014. Numerous exhibits have been mounted featuring pieces from Ms. Pounder’s Collection including The Charles G. Wright Museum of African History in Detroit, the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center in Chicago, the African American Museum in Philadelphia and the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta. Other loans & exhibits have included the National Portrait Gallery in London, Xavier University in New Orleans, Kent State Museum, Spelman College Museum of Art and Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, among many others.
Chronicles of Ori: An African Epic
In Chronicles of Ori, her debut book, Harmonia Rosales retells the African myths she has long treasured, crafting an enthralling epic that spans the birth of the universe to the modern world of colonialism and resistance. She writes of the powerful, temperamental deities called the Orishas; of the founding of Yorubaland by the shrewd leader Oduduwa; of the young heroine Eve, born in a time of violence and despair, who would help her people regain their past splendor; and of shimmering serpents and monstrous shadows who stalk the lands of mortals. At the center of these linked tales is the bond, sometimes fraying, between the Orishas and the humans who worship them. It was the Orishas who made humans, and who gave them their most precious resource: their Oris, or destinies. Vividly brought to life by Rosales’s artwork, Chronicles of Ori will enlighten and delight readers for years to come.