"Women made the headdresses but it is the men's work to collect the ostrich feathers...According to Maasai people, every man must own a spear from thirteen years of age. Warriors are recommended to carry spears on a daily basis while boys are allowed to carry theirs when herding cattle only...Both the spear and shield are things that I would like to own for the rest of my life. The [shield's] pigment painting is based on a section, clan, and sometimes region. You have to hold it so a lion can land on it. Then you have to slide the lion over your head, and sometimes the lion weighs about 400 pounds. Do that a few times and you can confuse him."
Wood, metal, and plastic
1 1/2 x 1 1/8 x 64 1/4 in. (3.8 x 2.9 x 163.2 cm)
General Acquisition Fund
2000.1
Not currently on view
Resources
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Art from Africa: Long Steps Never Broke a Back, Feb. 7 - May 19, 2002 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Oct. 2, 2004 - Jan. 2, 2005; Hartford, Connecticut, Wadsworth Atheneum, Feb. 12 - June 19, 2005; Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Art Museum, Oct. 8, 2005 - Jan. 1, 2006; Nashville, Tennessee, Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Jan. 27 - Apr. 30, 2006 [as African Art, African Voices: Long Steps Never Broke a Back]).
Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.
