Artists at Ife, the ancient capital of the Yoruba people, created a unique sculptural corpus that ranks among Africa's and the world's most aesthetically striking and technically sophisticated. Dynasty and Divinity: Ife in Ancient Nigeria is organized by the Museum for African Art in collaboration with the Fundacion Marcelino Botin of Santander, Spain.

Star of the 52nd Venice Biennale, the Ghanaian born Anatsui is one of the most sought after artists in contemporary art today. El Anatsui: "The Last Time I Wrote to you About Africa" is the first comprehensive retrospective of El Anatsui, one of Africa's most acclaimed sculptors.

In Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art the humble but beautifully crafted coiled basket, made in Africa and in the southern United States, becomes a prism through which audiences learn about the artistry characteristic of Africans in America from the 17th century to the present.

Opening at the Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC, on August 29, 2008 and continuing through November 30, 2008.  Grass Roots will open in New York in 2010 as one of the inaugural exhibitions at the Museum for African Art's new building in Harlem. Grass Roots: African Origins of an American Art is available for travel.

Image: Egg basket, Elizabeth Mazyck, Courtesy of the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, 26/1065

Sudanese artist Ibrahim El Salahi's work merges Western preoccupations with the history of representation with his aesthetic concerns as a practicing Muslim. The first museum retrospective of this important African modernist spans the period from his early training in London to his return to Sudan and later residencies in Egypt.