#west african
Gelede mask of the Yoruba people, Nigeria. Now in the Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
@elindasan
From National Geographic: The Gullah Geechee people are descendants of West African slaves brought to the coasts of the Carolinas, Georgia, and northern Florida, whose geographic isolation helped them retain a distinct culture and language. In chronicling the injustice her ancestors faced, South Carolina Gullah storyteller Theresa Jenkins Hilliard seeks to make their struggle real and relevant to younger generations.
As of now the Gullah Geechee people are fighting for their ancestral land and against the erasure of their culture. I encourage my followers and everyone who reblogs or likes this to share information on how we can help them!
Here’s a finished pose sheet (1 of 2) for this character who I’ve given the name, Princess Ugonwa.
I based her design on a traditional Nigerian/ Igbo ceremonial attire, such as the orange coral beads & headpiece. In the Igbo tongue, the name ‘Ugonwa’ literally means, ‘Eagle Child’. I really liked the power & poetry behind that, so I decided to give her a golden gauntlet as an attribute of her name & perhaps a prophesied destiny. The gauntlet, I called, ‘The Eagles Claw’, which would have mystical powers only she could wield… sort of like Thor’s hammer, ‘Mjolnir’…. but probably much stronger ;)
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This is a Shekere which is a West African musical instrument used in both African and Latin American music. It is traditionally a gourd that is dried out then scooped of its insides until it is hollow. Then cowry shells or beads are woven around the gourd and when it is shaken the beads or cowries hitting against the gourd make a percussive noise. Here’s an demo where you hear the shekere.
You can get a print of this here: LINK
If you’re just tuning in, i’m doing a series of music inspired artwork. Here are some recent and old ones you might have missed:
DrumIllustration
Patrice RushenPortrait
Memphis Minnie Character
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