enameled tribalpendant

a form that keeps experiencing a revival, but where do its actual roots lie? The so-called ‘tribal forms’ are aesthetic adaptations of traditional patterns. In this process, their original cultural contexts were mostly ignored and the forms were developed into pure graphic elements. In the cultures of origin, however, they had a spiritual, social or ritual significance: they told of belonging, status, identity or protection. in Western modernity, however, these references were often ‘whitewashed’. The enamelled amulet takes up this appropriated design language, coated with white enamel and decorated with floral motifs. it thus refers to the appropriation of indigenous aesthetics by the Western world.