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Bronze Armlet with Paired Figures Holding Ozo Title Staffs (Ngwu Agiliga)

Origin: Igbo, Nigeria Date: 19th–early 20th century Material: Bronze Location: Minneapolis Institute of Art This intricately cast bronze armlet from Igboland features two stylised human figures in high relief, facing outward and each grasping a vertical staff, likely the Ngwu Agiliga, the symbolic sceptre associated with holders of the Ozo title. These staffs are…

Beyoncé’s Homage to Ala, the Igbo Earth Mother

In Beyoncé’s 2013 African-themed music video for “Grown Woman,” she expresses the role of an African Earth Mother. This depiction is a clear reference to archival images of Ala, the Igbo Earth Mother, as represented in Mbari votive shrines. The Mbari shrines, documented by William Fagg in 1946, celebrate Ala’s role as the goddess of…