In Partnership with VT Advisory Board
Banner Art detail: Sadiq Somjee, "Bead Belt"
Beauty in Material Culture
Objects that signify peace are made beautiful because peace is also beauty. And what’s beautiful is also sacred and peaceful.
One of the most beautiful passages in the novel is when the Kot woman proclaims: “Africa is a continent of a hundred thousand proverbs, parables and riddles. And a thousand more songs, stories and dances. They speak of wisdom of how to live. The vessel that carries them is the memory of beauty. I am one such memory of beauty. The belt I wear over my unborn is called leketyo katikati. Rivers, lakes, forest groves and mountains are beaded on my belt like proverbs, parables and riddles on the tongue.”
