People of Color

The Nubians’ roots in southern Egypt only reach back to 8000 BCE, compared to Egyptians’ 35,000 years, but over the millennia they have variously been vassals, mercenaries, trading partners, military rivals, allies, and for 100 years or so, rulers. “Great Queen Tiye”, the legendary wife of Amenhotep III, was not the only Nubian to marry with the pharaohs. In the 1960’s the inundating waters of the Aswan High Dam displaced 100,000 of them from their ancestral homeland, now at the bottom of Lake Nasser. But the Egyptian government recognized the need to make reparations, and now any Nubian can claim a plot and homestead on Elephantine Island. Their lively, even whacky design sense combines intense color with geometric whimsy that buoys the spirit.Read more