Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Divine and Human at National Museum of Women in the Arts

Divine and Human: Women in Ancient
Mexico and Peru
March 3, 2006 - May 28, 2006
Interactive preview

In ancient Mesoamerica and Andean civilizations, women had daily roles in both the spiritual and actual worlds. They were not only daughters, wives, mothers, and grandmothers, but also healers, midwives, scribes, artists, priestesses, warriors, governors, and even goddesses. Divine and Human brings together 400 archaeological treasures from the unparalleled museum collections of Mexico and Peru. Magnificent sculptures, textiles, pottery, and jewelry explore the feminine “sphere” in cultures as varied as the Aztec, Mayan, Zapotec, Moche, Mixtec, and Incan.

One of the unfortunate truisms of history is that few women are mentioned by name and fewer still get their stories told. Over the past 30 years, things have begun to change for the better, thanks largely to burgeoning archaeological, anthropological, and feminist scholarship directed to consideration of the proper status and role of women in ancient cultures.

Divine and Human: Women in Ancient Mexico and Peru examines the important and varied roles played by women in a “Who’s Who” of the major civilizations of ancient Mesoamerica and in the Andean region, including the Aztec, Mayan, Zapotec, Moche, Mixtec, and Incan cultures.

Organized into seven sections—Society, Politics and Religion; Sacred Origins of Food; Textiles and Clothing; Physical Ornamentation; Magic and the Occult; Daily Life and its Origins; and Goddesses—this groundbreaking exhibition explores the “feminine sphere” in detail.

NMWA will host the exclusive United States showing of Divine and Human: Women in Ancient Mexico and Peru.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous12:42 PM

    Thank you for this! I did not know there was a museum of women in the arts!

    ReplyDelete