{"id":16636,"date":"2025-06-06T10:14:39","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T10:14:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/galleriaborghese.beniculturali.it\/en\/?p=16636"},"modified":"2025-06-09T14:50:47","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T14:50:47","slug":"water-woman-heads-in-a-basket-nyoka-musa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/galleriaborghese.cultura.gov.it\/en\/water-woman-heads-in-a-basket-nyoka-musa\/","title":{"rendered":"WATER WOMAN, HEADS IN A BASKET, NYOKA, MUSA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The four dark-patinated bronzes suggest evolving, fluid identities. Informed by African traditions, they evoke water spirits, ancestral beings, and regenerative forces. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nyoka<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Swahili for \u201csnake,\u201d rests in a coiled posture, its size unreadable, paused in a state between shedding and renewal. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Water Woman<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a Black mermaid, channels the Nguva and <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mami Wata<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> figures of coastal Africa, presences of power, fluidity, and transformation.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Musa<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Heads in a Basket<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> return to the motif of the basket, this time rendered in heavy bronze, filled with water. The fetal figure in <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Musa<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, named for Moses in Arabic and Swahili, suggests birth and embodies a suspended condition, neither alive nor inert. In <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Heads in a Basket<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, bronze heads improbably float, contradicting their material weight and challenging our expectation. Together, the sculptures explore contradictions: softness in metal, stillness in motion, and myth within matter. In the garden\u2019s cyclical rhythm, they do not stand as monuments but as presences in flux, inhabiting a space where history breathes and forms remain open.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The four dark-patinated bronzes suggest evolving, fluid identities. Informed by African traditions, they evoke water spirits, ancestral beings, and regenerative forces. Nyoka, Swahili for \u201csnake,\u201d rests in a coiled posture, its size unreadable, paused in a state between shedding and renewal. Water Woman, a Black mermaid, channels the Nguva and Mami Wata figures of coastal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":16695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-approfondimenti"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>WATER WOMAN, HEADS IN A BASKET, NYOKA, MUSA - Galleria Borghese<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/galleriaborghese.cultura.gov.it\/en\/water-woman-heads-in-a-basket-nyoka-musa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WATER WOMAN, HEADS IN A BASKET, NYOKA, MUSA - Galleria Borghese\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The four dark-patinated bronzes suggest evolving, fluid identities. Informed by African traditions, they evoke water spirits, ancestral beings, and regenerative forces. Nyoka, Swahili for \u201csnake,\u201d rests in a coiled posture, its size unreadable, paused in a state between shedding and renewal. Water Woman, a Black mermaid, channels the Nguva and Mami Wata figures of coastal [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/galleriaborghese.cultura.gov.it\/en\/water-woman-heads-in-a-basket-nyoka-musa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Galleria Borghese\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/galleriaborgheseufficiale\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-06T10:14:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-09T14:50:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/galleriaborghese.cultura.gov.it\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/Nyoka-Large.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"user_cld\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GallBorghese\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GallBorghese\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"user_cld\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/galleriaborghese.cultura.gov.it\/en\/water-woman-heads-in-a-basket-nyoka-musa\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/galleriaborghese.cultura.gov.it\/en\/water-woman-heads-in-a-basket-nyoka-musa\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"user_cld\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/galleriaborghese.cultura.gov.it\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/38a1011a5db795081cb66d4bc4943941\"},\"headline\":\"WATER WOMAN, HEADS IN A BASKET, NYOKA, MUSA\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-06T10:14:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-09T14:50:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/galleriaborghese.cultura.gov.it\/en\/water-woman-heads-in-a-basket-nyoka-musa\/\"},\"wordCount\":174,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/galleriaborghese.cultura.gov.it\/en\/water-woman-heads-in-a-basket-nyoka-musa\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/galleriaborghese.cultura.gov.it\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/Nyoka-Large.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Approfondimenti\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/galleriaborghese.cultura.gov.it\/en\/water-woman-heads-in-a-basket-nyoka-musa\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/galleriaborghese.cultura.gov.it\/en\/water-woman-heads-in-a-basket-nyoka-musa\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/galleriaborghese.cultura.gov.it\/en\/water-woman-heads-in-a-basket-nyoka-musa\/\",\"name\":\"WATER WOMAN, HEADS IN A BASKET, NYOKA, MUSA - 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