Uploaded December 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
This large sculpture was made for Mami Wata, pidgin English for “Mother of Water," a charismatic being of great spiritual power celebrated in West and Central Africa and reimagined as deities such as La Sirene (Haitian Vodou) and Yemanjá (Candomblé and Umbanda) in Afro-Atlantic spiritual traditions. Mami Wata is often associated with water’s sacred, healing power and with love, wealth, and good fortune. This sculpture’s silver high-heeled shoes were restored following the design of a closely related sculpture photographed in a shrine in eastern Nigeria in the 1990s.
Lauren Tate Baeza, the Fred and Rita Richman Curator of African Art, discusses Mami Wata in the film. This is just one of over seventeen thousand artworks in our collection. The High’s your place for digital content!
Visit the High Museum: high.org
This large sculpture was made for Mami Wata, pidgin English for “Mother of Water," a charismatic being of great spiritual power celebrated in West and Central Africa and reimagined as deities such as La Sirene (Haitian Vodou) and Yemanjá (Candomblé and Umbanda) in Afro-Atlantic spiritual traditions. Mami Wata is often associated with water’s sacred, healing power and with love, wealth, and good fortune. This sculpture’s silver high-heeled shoes were restored following the design of a closely related sculpture photographed in a shrine in eastern Nigeria in the 1990s.
Lauren Tate Baeza, the Fred and Rita Richman Curator of African Art, discusses Mami Wata in the film. This is just one of over seventeen thousand artworks in our collection. The High’s your place for digital content!
Visit the High Museum: high.org
