"Floating on the surface of the water" describes the first sighting of water spirits. To this day, water spirits slide into view with headdresses that resemble a boat filled with a fantastic crew: a python, fishing eagle, umbrella, and chameleon. These creatures and features mix together to perform for the mischievous water spirits' enjoy.
Wood, polychrome
13 1/2 x 11 15/16 in. (34.3 x 30.4 cm)
L.: 45 1/4 in.
Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company
81.17.531
Now on view at the
Seattle Art Museum
Resources
Exhibition HistoryLos Angeles, California, Fowler Museum at UCLA, Ways of The Rivers: Arts and Environment of the Niger Delta, May 18 - Nov. 17, 2002.
Published ReferencesMcClusky, Pamela. African Art: From Crocodiles to Convertibles in the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1987; cat. no. 7, p. 15, reproduced.
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.
