Orishas

Water has the power to sustain life, and the power to destroy it. Mami Wata is one of the oldest and most formative of these deities. The myths of mermaids and their human traits appears to be universal, and much like humans have their weaknesses and foibles alongside their transcendence and divinity. Her spirit manifests in the Yoruban deities Yemaya and Oshun, goddess of the sea and freshwater lakes and rivers (respectively). When Europeans kidnapped Africans and brought them through the Middle Passage, she was reborn in Haiti as La Sirene and in Brazil as Yemanja, Queen of the Sea. In order to continue to worship of the Great Mother and Mother of the Sea, she was syncretized to the Roman Catholic Mary. These powerful Orishas are another example of humans trying to understand divine forces by attributing human qualities to them.

12”x 12” x 2.625”

$500