The Cantor Arts Center’s newest exhibit, “Art of Being Tuareg: Sahara Nomads in a Modern World,” premiered yesterday, bringing the first major display of Tuareg art to campus. The exhibit showcases a wide array of jewelry, leatherwork and clothing as a cultural representation of this traditionally nomadic West African people.

“[We want] to show the range of significant art and culture from around the world and across time at Cantor,” the museum’s Manager Tom Seligman said in an email to The Daily. “This is another effort to do so, to help our community better understand the complex and increasingly interconnected world in which we live.”

The Tuareg people are comprised of several groups of pastoral nomads, settled agriculturalists and scattered city dwellers. Tuareg artists form a social group known as the inadan, whose work is the major focus of the exhibit. Their silver crosses, leather bags and wooden bowls are all featured in the exhibition. The art is largely traditional, and artisan techniques are passed from generation to generation.

“I’ve grown up on this,” explained Tuareg artist Elhadji Koumama, who was present at the exhibition preview.

The Cantor exhibition includes art that ranges from traditional Tuareg jewelry to weaponry to teapots.

The exhibit also has some Westernized items like salt and pepper shakers that were made to cater to the aid workers and missionaries who came to West Africa during the 1960s and ‘70s.

Sophia Powers ‘07 said she found the Westernized art particularly interesting.

“I found the showcase of tourist art very interesting, even though tourist art is defined as separate from high art,” she said. “I liked that they put tourist art as a clear part of the fine art on display.”

The exhibit includes some interactive features as well, as a video of a Tuareg wedding in the Sahara desert offers a glimpse into the lives of the nomadic people.

For Seligman — who originally encountered the Tuareg during his time in the Peace Corps and has worked with the people for 35 years — helping people learn about the Tuareg and their culture is the primary goal of the exhibition.

“I’ve spent a lot of time with them, it’s like being a part of a family,” he said. “I’m partial to them, to their art. I hope that over time, this will help them as people get to know them and buy their work.”

Some Tuareg musicians, members of a group called Tidawt, will perform at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at the Knoll tomorrow at 6 p.m. Stanford community members are encouraged to bring an instrument, which they will have the opportunity to play with Tidawt members Hasso Akotey, Omara Al Moctar and Alassane Foungounou.

“Art of Being Tuareg” will be at Cantor until Sept. 2, when it will leave for the National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.