Mami Wata is the most well-known African water deity; her legend has been carried across oceans and time to inspire stories of the forces that control the sea and protect the souls of those who have been lost to it. This sculpture is central to a body of work titled “La Fille des eaux,” which seeks to unravel the complex movement of water and people, linking the exploitation of resources and labor, the cargo of history, and the migration of souls from the continent across space and time. Water, both the giver of life and the bearer of memory, with its currents coursing through our veins, carries the stories of lost generations, spiritual practices, and a world shaped by unseen forces. In this piece, the tail of Mami Wata is placed in a found crate, her scales represented by souls she gathered, or called to her, as they were forcibly brought across the Atlantic.
Multimedia Sculpture (plaster, joint compound, metal mesh, polyurethane foam lace, insulation foam, gaffer's tape, acrylic paint, silicone, spray paint, flashe paint, shimmering water, yellowwater, resin, mirrored vinyl, foamcore, found plywood crate)
59.5” x 30.25” x 21.25”
2024
