Turkana
Unmarried Woman’s Apron (Nyrach)
Turkana, 1933-1966
Scroll
Turkana
Unmarried Woman’s Apron (Nyrach)
Turkana, 1933-1966
Physical Qualities
Leather, ostrich egg shell beads, 3/16 w/o straps x 8 1/4 x 1 7/8 in. (0.5 w/o straps x 21 x 4.7 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Carolyn Barnes, Alexandria, Virginia, in Memory of Murvil and Katherine Barnes
Object Number
1998.592
In colonial Kenya (1880-1963), you could tell a person's ethnicity based on the jewelry they wore. Turkana women, for instance, favored bands of single-color beads, while Maasai beaders preferred intricate, geometric patterns made from a diverse array of colors. However, a history of colonial oppression lies beneath the surface of these colorful distinctions. Separated by British colonizers into ethnically segregated "native reserves", the women who created these works lost the opportunity for artistic exchange. As colonialism wore on, their designs became more and more ethnically specific.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1998; collected by donor in Turkanaland in northern Kenya in 1972 while on assignment for USAID.
"Design for Mobile Living Art from Eastern Africa," June 1, 2016 - Nov 27, 2016, BMA, Kevin Tervala and Shannen Hill.
