Media Coverage

As the first major exhibition to consider medieval Saharan trade Caravans of Gold has been covered by a number of major news outlets.  Read some of the top media coverage of the exhibition. Educators may also use these articles to support teaching and learning.

Risham Majeed, Review of Kathleen Bickford Berzock, ed., Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa; and Alisa LaGamma, ed., Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara, The Art Bulletin (February 5, 2021)

Lloyd de Beer, “Caravans of Gold at the National Museum of African Art,” London Review of Books (February 4, 2021)
Josephine Livingstone, “Moving the Middle,” Art in America Magazine (April 1, 2019)

Howard W. French, “Africa’s Lost Kingdoms,” The New York Review of Books (June 27, 2019) [PDF]

Lee Ann Norman “‘Caravans of Gold’ reminds us that Africa has always been connected to the rest of the world,” The Chicago Reader (February 7, 2019)

Steve Johnson, “The richest man ever was not named Gates or Bezos; he was king of Mali in the Middle Ages,” The Chicago Tribune (January 23, 2019)

Agence France Presse, “L’âge d’or de l’Afrique célébré à Chicago en pleine controverse sur la restitution des œuvres,” Le Monde (January 28, 2019)

Seph Rodney, “In Centering West Africa, an Exhibition Tells Another Story of the Medieval Period,” Hyperallergic (March 15, 2019)

Jason Foumberg, “How Northwestern Got Its Hands on Rare Medieval African ,”  Chicago Magazine (January 22, 2019)

Jason Daley, “New Exhibition Highlights Story of the Richest Man Who Ever Lived,” Smithsonian Magazine (February 5, 2019)

Jerome McDonnell “Caravans of Gold” Shows Treasures of Medieval Africa” WorldView WBEZ 91.5 Chicago Radio, (January 24, 2019)

Marc Vitali, “‘Arresting’ Exhibition Showcases Fine Art, Sculpture of Medieval Africa,” Chicago Tonight, WTTW (January 29, 2019)

Niama Safia Sandy, “Unpacking Medieval African Art’s Profound Global Legacy,” Artsy (January 21, 2019)

Kathleen Bickford Berzock, “Curator’s Diary: Assembling the fragments of Africa’s medieval past,” Apollo Magazine (January 24, 2019) 

Jason Foumberg, “When Saharan sands glittered with gold: how the world’s largest desert was a major medieval trade route,” The Art Newspaper (January 24, 2019)