Amita Sinha
Associate Professor
Landscape Architecture

and James L. Wescoat
Professor and Head
Landscape Architecture

Beginning almost twenty years ago, University of Illinois Landscape Architecture faculty and students have been involved in developing master plans for conserving historic places in India— from the Buddhist monastic center at Sarnath to the Taj Mahal area in Agra and, most recently, India’s newest World Heritage Site at Champaner-Pavagadh in eastern Gujarat state.

Champaner-Pavagadh was declared a World Heritage Site in 2004 through the leadership of the Heritage Trust, Baroda in collaboration with the Department of Landscape Architecture at Illinois. The collaboration goes back to 2001 when Karan Grover, President of Heritage Trust, invited a team of faculty members and students to prepare a landscape management plan for the site. Following a week-long design workshop at the site, the student-faculty team came back to campus and spent 12 weeks in developing their initial concepts. Two more visits and studio workshops in 2003 and 2005 followed, resulting in three reports that have been widely disseminated, submitted to UNESCO for World Heritage Site nomination, and used for fund raising.

Champaner-Pavagadh is a spectacular archaeological site: an entire medieval city that flourished between 1484-1535 CE now largely buried underground, protected by forest scrub and graced by a few surviving mosques and mausoleums. The city was abandoned after it was ransacked by the Mughal army and over time was lost to the jungle. It lies waiting to be re-excavated at the foot of a sacred hill called Pavagadh that is the destination of over two million pilgrims per year who visit the temple of the Great Goddess—Kalika Mata—at its summit. Pavagadh Hill also has many archaeological heritage sites—forts, palaces, water structures—dating back to the Rajput era (eleventh to fourteenth centuries CE) that preceded the arrival of the Islamic Sultanate in that region.

In addition to its religious and historic significance, Champaner is a “living heritage site” as some 5,700 villagers continue to eke out an existence from agriculture, forest products and tending to pilgrim needs. And herein lies the challenge: protecting and revealing the past while meeting the needs of a living community. Years of neglecting the cultural landscape and numerous architectural remnants including mosques, temples, fortifications, stepwells and other structures, combined with pressure for developing more shops, restaurants, apartments and other facilities, resulted in Champaner-Pavagadh’s listing as one of the World Monuments Fund’s top 100 most endangered
sites.

The landscape plans proposed by the UI teams are based upon an integrated approach to managing the historically and culturally significant landscape of Champaner-Pavagadh. They include restoration and development of heritage trails with interpretive signage; view and rest places for visitors; design of pilgrim welcome and interpretation centers at key junctures in visitors’ paths; conservation and restoration of historic water structures; preservation of viewsheds; a community development plan for treating waste water and solid waste; and designs for shop-cum-residential units with sustainable materials for the squatter population. A three-dimensional digital model of the vanished city of Champaner was developed and so were guide maps for journeys for pilgrimage, archaeological exploration, and following the
movement of water in the landscape.

It is the hope of the UI design teams that through this work and continuing efforts by Heritage Trust, renewed attention will be given to Champaner-Pavagadh, a landscape that speaks so eloquently to the history and culture of western India.

Faculty members involved at Champaner-Pavagadh include Professors Amita Sinha, Gary Kesler, D. Fairchild Ruggles, and James Wescoat. About 50 Illinois student alumni have contributed to the India cultural heritage studies, with a comparable number of design students working in India. In addition to new projects, including conservation of a palace-garden complex at Nagaur, Rajasthan, the Illinois landscape architects’ overarching goal is to establish a longer-term collaborative program with design schools, students, and scholars in India in the years ahead.

Kathryn Hargrave and Anne Ratteree
Students, College of Fine and Applied Arts
Images courtesy of the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History

Events surrounding an award-winning exhibition at the Krannert Art Museum: “A Saint in the City: Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal,” curated by UCLA’s Mary Nooter Roberts and Allen F. Roberts, saw the University of Illinois campus abuzz with energy in fall 2006. The subject matter explored in the exhibition was the visual culture inspired by Sheikh Amadou Bamba, an important Muslim religious leader of Senegal in the early 20th century. Followers of Bamba, known as Mourides, are not only located in Senegal, but across the globe.

The exhibition fostered an environment of understanding and education within the Champaign-Urbana community. A seminar taught by Assistant Professor Dana Rush brought together both undergraduate and graduate students in art history, fine arts, art education, African studies, and anthropology. To introduce the local and the university communities to this unique exhibition and the basic underpinnings of the Mouride way, the students in the seminar focused their energy on preparing for the exhibition opening, giving exhibition tours, and performing outreach trips to local schools. The seminar allowed for the community to explore more fully the life of Sheikh Amadou Bamba, his preaching, the Mouride way, and Senegalese visual culture.

In addition, there was a day-long symposium, which included participation from the Mouride community, to introduce Champaign-Urbana to the arts and interwoven culture that is “A Saint in the City: Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal.”

Through the artifacts and art objects illustrated here, more can be understood about Sheikh Amadou Bamba’s teachings and the visual culture of Senegal’s urban centers.

Historic photo of Sheikh Amadou Bamba
Djourbel, Senegal, 1913
Photo by Don Cole

“It is said that wherever the Holy Man’s image can be found, it instantly changes the environment. It comes directly from the Holy Man. Whenever you enter the room, all you need to do is look at the picture.”

—Mor Gueye, Sengalese Glass Painter

It is unlikely that another image exists, facilitating such a strong visual culture as the infinitely reproduced 1913 photo of Mouride religious leader Sheikh Amadou Bamba. This black and white photograph, the only photograph of the Saint, has been reproduced across nearly every medium because of the Mouride belief that the Saint is found in his image. Representations directly derived from the photograph are visible everywhere in the streets of Senegalese cities such as Touba and Dakar.

Mor Gueye
Noah’s Ark, 1992
Reverse glass painting
Glass, paint, cardboard and tape
57.7 x 71.5 cm
Private Collection
Photo by Don Cole

Familiar to Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike, this reverse glass painting by Senegalese artist Mor Gueye depicts Noah’s Ark, as the Qur’an shares many stories with the Old Testament. While glass paintings like Mor Gueye’s are primarily a tourist trade today, these paintings are derived from banned Islamic prints depicting religious scenes. When prohibited by the French colonialists, Sufi artists copied the images by placing a plate of glass atop the print and copying it.

Gueye considers the act of painting to be a form of prayer, as Sheikh Amadou Bamba believed work to be prayer. Popular with tourists, Gueye finds himself painting many scenes having little to do with Bamba; however, he believes that solely by having images of the Sheikh amongst the souvenir images, he is able to transmit a blessed energy referred to by Mourides as baraka onto passing tourists.

Pape Mamadou Samb
(Papisto Boy)
Painted mural detail showing Reverend Martin Luther King and the Archangel Gabriel in the form of a dove, 1997–1998
Dakar, Senegal
Photograph by Mary Nooter Roberts and Allen F. Roberts, 1999

This image comes from a six hundred-foot mural by Mouride artist Pape Mamadou Samb (better known as “Papisto Boy”), which was painted on the exterior of factory walls in an industrial neighborhood of the port of Dakar. However, the wall was later torn down and the mural was destroyed. Through his devotional works, Papisto educates people about Amadou Bamba. He calls upon a panoply of global freedom fighters, heroes of resistance, revolutionaries, and “messengers”of the Saint. Portraits of Che Guevara, Jimi Hendrix, and Martin Luther King can be discerned among more local personalities.

In this section, we see the lion of courage gazing at the Reverend Martin Luther King. The Archangel Gabriel, a popular icon within Mouride art, brings Dr. King the Holy Bible as a gift from God, in the form of a dove. According to Papisto “Martin Luther King fought against oppression and evil. He didn’t fight for Senegal, but he fought for the whole world. He is like Amadou Bamba who blesses our hearts because he has endured sadness in order to encourage us and to give us freedom.”

Viye Diba
Musical Materiality, 1998
Wood, cloth, paint and cordage
156.6 x 168 cm
UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History
Photo by Don Cole

Viye Diba was trained in art education at the National School of Fine Arts in Dakar, where he also has worked as a professor. His education continued at the Teachers’ College for Art Education in Dakar. Diba remains interested in the environment and considers himself a researcher as he continues to teach and make art.

Musical Materiality is a departure into freestanding sculpture from Diba’s more two-dimensional work. The pendant pieces of distressed wood wrapped in cloth make several references at once: to the keys of balaphones (marimbas), a Senegalese instrument, hence the materialization of their music; to the space of Senegalese dance and theatricality; and to the clubs and patchwork clothing of Baye Falls, who live Amadou Bamba’s phenomenology of work and the sense of “unity in diversity” one gains from the Saint’s teaching.

Restaurant Doors depicting Sheikh Amadou Bamba
Artist unknown
Dakar, Senegal
Mid to late 20th Century
Paint on metal
205 x 65.5 cm, each
UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History
Photo by Don Cole

A representation of the visual culture of Senegal, these bakery doors have meticulously beautiful representations of Sheikh Amadou Bamba and his first and most ardent disciple, Sheikh Ibra Fall. From the capital city of Senegal, these doors are only one sample of many places of work in Dakar with images of the Saint. Ibra Fall is often shown in the workplace because he led a life of constant work.

Similar to the photograph of Bamba, there is merely one photograph of Ibra Fall, and all representations are derivatives of the photograph. An anonymous Mouride told Mary and Allen Roberts, “Work becomes a privileged instrument for reinforcing faith, a powerful tool for controlling passions and appetites, a source of spiritual elevation.”

Elimane Fall
Le Travail (Work), 1999
Paint, Linen, wood, and nails
40”x 28”
UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History
Photo by Don Cole

“Work as if you’ll never die.”

—Sheikh Amadou Bamba

In conjunction with the exhibition, Senegalese artist Elimane Fall visited the University of Illinois campus to discuss his painting and its connections to the teachings of both Amadou Bamba and Ibra Fall. Elimane paints followers of Ibra Fall in a movement by the name of Baye Fall; hard working, simple living, devout followers of both Ibra Fall and Amadou Bamba sacrifice their belongings and live a life of work and prayer.

Incorporated in Le Travail (Work) is Arabic calligraphy and Mouride Iconography depicted in Elimane’s highly graphic paint handling. The text states, “In the Name of God, most Gracious, most Merciful” and “Blessedness for a servant of God, a faithful seeker.” Amadou Bamba is said to have written seven metric tons during his lifetime despite being illiterate. Represented here alongside the Saint’s verse are images of Bamba, Ibra Fall, a Baye Fall disciple, and the largest pilgrimage site of Senegal, the burial ground of Bamba: Touba.

Image of Amadou Bamba on a sidewalk shop selling hubcaps near the Great Mosque of Dakar
Photo by Mary Nooter Roberts and Allen F. Roberts, 1994

Passersby are assured that Mourides run the shop, and that the Saint will bless them should they decide to purchase something there.

This shop is a small example of the many ways Bamba is represented in Senegalese visual culture. Mourides believe that imagery of Bamba holds baraka, a term closely related to divine grace. According to Mary and Allen Roberts “baraka bestows physical superabundance and prosperity, and psychological happiness.” Therefore, when looking at this particular sidewalk shop, according to the Mourides, one is receiving baraka. In Dakar, visual culture can help people address and resolve everyday problems.

Kimiko Gunji, Director, Japan House

A different kind of classroom exists on the southeast edge of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus, near the fields of the Arboretum and the Veterinary Medicine complex. In contrast to standard classrooms with the requisite trappings of tables, desks and technology, Japan House offers tranquil gardens and the serenity of a traditional Japanese home. It exudes the aesthetics of centuries-old Japanese culture: the hushed sounds of men and women in kimonos performing the traditional tea ceremony; the scent of burning incense wafting throughout the structure; and fragrant buckets of flowers awaiting the intricate and precise shaping and pruning they will undergo during Ikebana (flower arranging) as they are transformed from nature to art. There is the bright green of the matcha (tea) used in performing the traditional tea ceremony, juxtaposed against the soft colors of the tatami mats and the translucence of the tearoom screens used in its three tearooms. Amid this serenity emanate the sounds of learning—learning through classes and performances of traditional Japanese arts: Ikebana; Chado, or the Way of Tea; calligraphy as well as Zen philosophy; and Japanese aesthetics. Japan House facilities and classes are open to the general public, from grade-schoolers to senior citizens, and is indeed a very busy­–and very special–place. It has not, however, always enjoyed its present facilities. First created in 1976, it began operations in an old, remodeled Victorian house on the edge of campus. The current facility was built in 1998. As one of five outreach units of the College of Fine and Applied Arts, Japan House promotes the related missions of education and public engagement outlined by the College and University, and as such undertakes several important supporting missions of its own. The first is to provide an academic, cultural, and natural setting for fostering an appreciation of Japanese culture and related Asian cultural concepts. Built around the concept of Chado, Japan House is a center for teaching and learning about Japanese art and culture. But since its inception, the staff has worked toward a broader goal: promoting cultural tolerance and respect. The lessons learned at Japan House go well beyond the immediate subject matter. Students gain an important sense of cultural tolerance, intellectual curiosity and a global sense of “self,” three attributes crucial in their development as productive global citizens. Programming at Japan House consists of not only academic courses, but also fall and spring open houses at which the tea ceremony is performed and presentations on different aspects of Japanese culture are offered; workshops by visiting artists on topics such as calligraphy; bus tours to regional sites such as Japanese gardens or museums; and many other events. Japan House also regularly collaborates with other units on campus, such as the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and Krannert Art Museum to sponsor programs. This year Japan House joined with the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts to present the National Bunraku Theatre of Japan on October 6, 2007. This was a rare opportunity to witness a performance of bunraku, or traditional Japanese puppet theater, recognized by UNESCO as one the world’s great intangible cultural heritages. This preeminent 300-year-old national Japanese theater troupe made its first full scale U.S. tour in almost two decades to only a few select locations, including Boston, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Chicago and Urbana-Champaign. Regularly scheduled Japan House programming includes tea

ceremonies, which are available on the second and fourth Thursday afternoon of each month August-May and require reservations and a small fee. Tours of our facilities, however, do not require reservations and are free. These are offered every Thursday afternoon from 1:00 to 4:00 and on the third Saturday of the month from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. The gardens are always open for visitors (the Tea Garden is closed during icy weather but the Dry Gardens are always accessible). Please visit our website at http://www.art.illinois.edu/galleries/japanhouse/index.cfm for more information or check the Japan House blog at www.japanhouse.typepad.com for news and images of the gardens.