Salvador, BA, Brazil, 1967
Omi Òkun Ayérayé, 2024-2025
beads (glass), wood (jacaranda), stainless steel thread
Collection of the artist
Courtesy the artist and Portas Vilaseca Galeria
In the pantheon of religions of African origin, Iemanjá is the female deity connected to the sea, identified as the great mother of the waters, the one who feeds her children. She is celebrated on 2 February, but also honoured in festivals throughout the year. Iemanjá is the patron saint of sailors and fishermen, and the one who decides the fate of those who go out to sea.
Nádia Taquary’s work speaks of the sacred, the feminine and the ancestral. The artist researched the Yabás (female orixás) and Iyàmis (ancestral mothers), starting from elements of Afro-Brazilian jewelry and African body ornamentation to create sculpture-objects and installations. The figure of Iemanjá that Taquary created for Shapes of Waters functions as an origin and a marker in the exhibition, pointing towards an intimate relationship between the waters and the sacred.