Kihona (stool)

"When people worshipped in the past, they always removed the clothes from their upper torso. All the women had scarifications and spirits responded above all to women; they were more favorable to women." (Ngeleka, a Luba male titleholder)

The markings on this royal woman are called "writing on the body" by Luba, who begin scarifying at adolescence, adding more marks after each childbirth. When acting as ambassadors, advisors and even chiefs, women's bodies could verify messages from kings. Her cross-shaped hairstyle is a reminder that Luba consider hair a place for dreams to reside.

Wood

20 x 10 5/8 x 8 5/8 in. (50.8 x 27 x 21.9 cm)

Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

81.17.876

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Praise Poems: The Katherine White Collection, July 29 - Sept. 29, 1984 (Washington, D.C., National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Oct. 31, 1984 - Feb. 25, 1985; Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, Apr. 6 - May 19, 1985; Fort Worth, Texas, Kimbell Art Museum, Sept. 7 - Nov. 25, 1985; Kansas City, Missouri, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Mar. 8 - Apr. 20, 1986). Text by Pamela McClusky. Cat. no. 3, pp. 16-17, reproduced.

New York, New York, Museum for African Art, Memory: Luba Art and the Making of History, Feb. 2 - Sept. 8, 1996 (Washington, D.C., National Museum of African Art, Oct. 30, 1996 - Jan. 26, 1997).

Published ReferencesMcClusky, Pamela. African Art: From Crocodiles to Convertibles in the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1987; cat. no. 3, p. 10, reproduced.

McClusky, Pamela. "Art of Africa." In Selected Works, pp. 35-52. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1991; p. 38, 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.

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