People in Mexico have made bark paper known as papel amate for almost 2000 years. Many Mesoamerican indigenous groups including the Toltec, Aztec, and Mixtec used it for a variety of purposes. While the practice disappeared across much of Mexico after the Spanish conquest when […]
Shadow puppet plays are popular throughout Indonesia. In Bali, leather puppets like this one, called wayang kulit, are used for both entertainment and sacred ritual. During nighttime performances, the puppets’ shadows are cast against a white cloth stretched on bamboo and lit by an oil […]
This basket sifter is from Pikin Saron, an indigenous Kalina village in the north-central part of Suriname. The Kalina are also known as Carib or mainland Carib, but they call themselves Kalina. They live in several countries along the northern coast of South America, with […]
The Makonde people live in southeast Tanzania, northern Mozambique, and Kenya. This Makonde body mask, known as a njorowe, is from Tanzania. Masks like this one are used in Makonde initiation rituals. During their initiation, boys are isolated for a period of several months during […]
This large woven bedding bag was made around the turn of the 20th century by the Shahsevan people in Northwest Iran (then Persia). The Shahsevan are traditionally nomadic pastoralists, traveling between their winter home in the steppe and summer lands at higher elevation near Mount […]
The Solomon Islands are located east of New Guinea and consists of 6 larger islands and more than 900 smaller islands. These shell plaques, known as barava, are from Choiseul Island in the western Solomon Islands. Barava plaques are a national icon in the Solomon […]