Welcome in Our Peace World
1 of 3
Object Label
History is about power, and its depiction is a consequential act. These two works—a technically refined casting of precious materials for a powerful monarch, and a group of movable wood figures celebrating a new democratic era—commemorate specific important moments in the political histories of their respective societies.
The Edo figure glorifies the spirit of a deceased king, or oba, who ruled the kingdom of Benin at the height of its power. A motif on the figure's kilt depicting an elephant, whose trunk ends in a human right hand, identifies this work with the reign of the oba Esigie, who ruled from 1504 to 1550.
Johannes Segogela's sculpture addresses the South African transition from the armed liberation struggle against whites-only apartheid rule into the new democratic era, born the following year with the multiracial elections that swept Nelson Mandela to power. The work suggests the need for South Africans to cast their weapons into the furnace.
Caption
Johannes Mashego Segogela (South African, born 1936). Welcome in Our Peace World, 1993. Wood, paint, wire, synthetic fiber, 17 1/2 x 38 x 66 in. (44.5 x 96.5 x 167.6 cm) [variable]. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Jerome L. and Ellen Stern, 2010.42. © Johannes Mashego Segogela. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Title
Welcome in Our Peace World
Date
1993
Geography
Place collected: Johannesburg, Gauteng Province, South Africa, Place made: Limpopo Province, South Africa
Medium
Wood, paint, wire, synthetic fiber
Classification
Dimensions
17 1/2 x 38 x 66 in. (44.5 x 96.5 x 167.6 cm) [variable]
Signatures
M.J. Segogela, P15, Sekhurhuiie
Credit Line
Gift of Jerome L. and Ellen Stern
Accession Number
2010.42
Rights
© Johannes Mashego Segogela
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