Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas
- Date of account
- 2008
- Location
- Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C., with African source regions
- Source
- model_recalled_reference
- Record updated
- 2026-10-10
Record summary
The 2008 Smithsonian exhibition and catalogue Mami Wata: Arts for Water Spirits in Africa and Its Diasporas assembled visual and ethnographic evidence about water-spirit traditions, including Mami Wata imagery, possession practices, river encounters, and stories of wealth, danger, seduction, and healing. It matters because it compares traditions across West, Central, and Southern Africa while tracing Atlantic and colonial-era transmission. The material does not establish supernatural beings as factual. Regional names and meanings differ, and museum curation can flatten local histories or imply a unity that practitioners themselves may not recognize.
Investigate related details with Anomaly Graph’s account-based search, or read how matching and provenance work.