This Japanese Painter Found the Faith Through Sacred Art

CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY
By Hannah Brockhaus

ROME -- Osamu Giovanni Micico had never read the Bible, knew nothing of the stories of Christ in the gospels, and had never heard of the apostles, when his experience studying sacred art in Italy brought him to the Catholic faith. “When I came to Italy, painting was the only street for me as far as my profession goes. Thank God, that is also where God gave me my spiritual rebirth,” Micico told CNA. Catholicism “transformed my life. The way I relate to others, the way I view the world. And the direction I’m taking in my life. The meaning of suffering. It all changed. My conversion gave life to death.”[More]

Ancient Stolen Buddha Statues Returned to Afghanistan After 17 Years in UK

iNEWS
By Katie Grant

The terracotta heads are believed to have been stolen by the Taliban (Photo: Met Police)

An “ancient and precious” collection of terracotta Buddha heads, believed to have been stolen by the Taliban and transported to the UK, are to be returned to Afghanistan 17 years after their discovery at Heathrow Airport. A Buddha sculpture and nine heads will be sent back to their “rightful home”, the National Museum of Afghanistan, following a “long and complex” investigation that was carried out by the Metropolitan Police’s art and antiques unit. In September 2002, customs officers intercepted two wooden crates at Heathrow Airport that had been flown over on a flight from Peshawar, Pakistan. Officials suspected the crates contained drugs but instead stuffed inside were the Buddha sculpture and nine heads. [More]

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK - Laylah Amatullah Barrayn

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, photographer /curator

Ernest worked with Indianapolis-based performing artist Baba Khabir Shareef for the last seven years, and his recent passing both haunts and inspires us to be better children of God. Like our Baba, for decades, NYC-based documentary photographer Laylah Amatullah Barrayn has been celebrating the Muslim-inspired spirit of communities of the African diaspora that she also honors. Her “Cheikh Bamba's Tomb” is included in an exhibit closing today at BRIC that honors the Muslim experience, and that is why Laylah Amatullah Barrayn is our artist of the week.