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Gameboard (Enkeshui)

Gameboard (Enkeshui)

Maasai Elders Only

Elders of the Merrueshi community of the Kaputiei section of the Maasai assembled this sequence to represent the objects most significant to their lives. Central to their daily experience is the mancala gameboard, which is surrounded by all the elements that are traded as the elders sit under a tree and play. Counters are collected over many years, and consist of rocks, aluminum balls, and worn glass. An authority staff is offered only to those who earn respect and are presented with it on behalf of the community. All this art came as a special exchange with the Merruschi community.

Wood and rubber
24 x 5 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. (61 x 13.3 x 3.8 cm)
General Acquisition Fund
2000.2.1
location
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]). Text by Pamela McClusky. No cat. no., p. 271, reproduced pl. 100.

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.

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