"Indigenous Arts of Africa"

"Mother of Twins, Fertility Sculpture"

Republic of Cameroon, West Africa

62"H x 29" Dia

Bronze

Mid 20th Century

For this assignment we were asked to go to a museum, exhibit or gallery and find a piece of artwork that caught our eye. I chose to go somewhere local. I went to the Goshen College Music Center's Hershberger Art Gallery. On display from June 2 - September 22 is a display by Keith and Ann Graber Miller. The pieces in this gallery are from their personal art gallery, Found, which is an international art gallery located in downtown Goshen, Indiana. As you walk into the gallery, you are immediately surrounded by the beautiful scenery of what feels like a new world. Between the bright colors, sculptures and beautiful cloths, I was overwhelmed by the beauty that surrounded me. It was hard to pick just one piece to focus on, but there was one piece towards the back that caught my eye. This sculpture (pictured above) is called "Mother of Twins, Fertility Sculpture". It stands about 5 feet tall and is bronze. This piece is actual mass. I believe I was drawn to this naturally due to the fact that the name itself, can be tied into the medical field. As I stood and studied this piece of art, I kept picking up on more details as the time went by. The top of this statue obviously represents the title. The main figure is the mother and she is holding her twin babies. If you look at the piece around her neck closely, you can see the amazing detail of different lines that were handcrafted. Just the detail work alone on the neck piece, stomach and hair on the top of her head, probably took hours! Her earrings remind me of the fish symbol that most Christians are very familiar with. The overall texture of the statue reminds me of a marble type look even though it is not. Her face was also interesting to study because it is not something that you would see on a contemporary piece from artists in our culture.

The next thing that caught my eye was the bottom of the statue. After studying it in person for several minutes, and then for another good amount of time tonight, I have come up with a few different possibilities of what the bottom might represent. I did a small amount of research on fertility sculptures and read that some women used to believe that simply being around a statue such as this one, could one day help them get pregnant. So my original thought was that maybe the babies or small figures at the bottom are babies that have yet to be born, that are acting as support for the current mother. My next thought considered the gender of the small figures below. They seem to all be male, so my next thought was that possibly this could represent that men are the support systems during the time of birth for the mother. And finally, my last thought was that maybe the small figures, or children, at the bottom could represent the strength that a child can give to their mother. Women feel fulfilled by the fact that they are able to produce something amazing and through that they gain strength and love. Whatever it may be that the bottom of this statue is supposed to represent, in the end it is still a magnificent piece of art.

Next we were asked to create a poem as a response to our piece of artwork. I decided to use William Carlos Williams poem "The Listening Room" to guide me in doing this. 

A mother's arms

spread open

wide

her young

embraced

sweet coos of babies

are heard

comforting

the new mothers

nerves.

-- by Kelsey Smucker

If you would like more information on this exhibit, or would like to see a short video of the different pieces in the gallery, here is a link to it. 

African indigenous art featured in Goshen College exhibit