Epa Headdress, Mother of Twins
Culture: Yoruba
Location: Nigeria
Date: 19th-20th Century
Medium: Wood, Pigment
The Epa headdress is a superstructure carved from wood by the Yoruba peoples. This superstructure portrays the mother as a dignified woman holding a twin on each knee. Each twin touches the mother’s breast with on hand and holds a tray for receiving the begging the mother-of-twins must perform. 2 At the base, female figures offer gifts to the orisha who have given blessings to the mother. This piece shows balance to the community through the mother and her children.6
2 Henry Drewal, Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought. (New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1989) 195.
6 Monica Blackmun Visona, A History of Art in Africa. (Pentice Hall, 2001), 259.