Mitumba Deity
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Object Label
Amulets
In the New Kingdom, amulets represented magic in miniature form.
At that time, the Egyptians frequently wore amulets proclaiming their devotion to the cult of major deities such as Thoth, god of wisdom, or Hathor, an ancient goddess associated with music and love. These charms were intended to provide protection from specific dangers. Amulets of birth-gods, for example, were believed to protect women during pregnancy and childbirth and to watch over a newborn in the first years of life.
In the Eighteenth Dynasty, certain amulets began to be placed within mummy bandages to guarantee life after death. The most common included wedjat-eyes, signifying the restoration of wholeness; tyt-amulets, emblems of the goddess Isis, who restored her dead husband Osiris to life; and flowers, traditional symbols of fertility. Beads inscribed with a person’s name ensured that the memory of the individual would survive throughout eternity.
So-called heart scarabs, known since the Thirteenth Dynasty, are frequently found on New Kingdom mummies. The Egyptians believed that a deceased person’s fate would be determined by weighing his or her heart against the “Feather of Truth” on a divine balance. Texts carved on heart scarabs prevented the deceased’s heart from revealing anything negative during the weighing ritual.
Caption
Shinique Smith American, born 1971. Mitumba Deity, 2005. Fabric, clothing, twine and cardboard, 48 x 50 in. (121.9 x 127 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Contemporary Art Council, 2009.25. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Image courtesy of Yvon Lambert Gallery, CUR.2009.25.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Mitumba Deity
Date
2005
Medium
Fabric, clothing, twine and cardboard
Classification
Dimensions
48 x 50 in. (121.9 x 127 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of the Contemporary Art Council
Accession Number
2009.25
Rights
© artist or artist's estate
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Frequent Art Questions
What kind of materials are used in this piece?
That is actually a newly installed work by Shinique Smith. Forgive me if you already read the label, but it is made of bundles of fabric, stuffed toys, and articles of clothing as well as twine and cardboard. It even includes some of the artist's own clothes, and clothes of her friends. She was inspired by a film that tracks a T-shirt with a university logo from a thrift shop in New York to a mountain village in Africa, where it is purchased by a man and becomes his second shirt-her piece really comments on the global economy through the path of second hand clothing. Mitumba is a Swahili word that literally means “bundles” and refers to the packages and articles of used clothing donated by people in prosperous countries to charitable causes. Mitumba Deity is from Smith’s series of bundle sculptures.I'm looking at a pile of clothes with a vaguely feminine form. What makes these found object arrangements museum quality?
Thoughtful question. With this work, as with many, many contemporary works that utilize found objects and materials, it is really the intent and the idea of the artist that makes them of interest to collectors and museums.The artist, Shinique Smith, was inspired by a film that tracks a T-shirt with a university logo from a thrift shop in New York to a mountain village in Africa, where it is purchased by a man and becomes his second shirt. Her piece really comments on the global economy through the path of second hand clothing. The title "Mitumba" is a Swahili word that literally means “bundles” and refers to the packages and articles of used clothing donated by people in prosperous countries to charitable causes. Smith has a series of sculptures like this.Ok, I see that. Is the Santa Claus an original part of it?Yes, her bundles include fabric scraps, clothing and toys and it was a complete piece when it was gifted to the Museum in 2009.Thanks!You're welcome!
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