T. Eliott Mansa Memory Jug IX, 2019 clay, shells, plastic toys and flowers, acrylic paint, and bottles 10 x 7 x 7 inches.

Enslaved Bakongo people, from what is now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola, brought the tradition of memory jugs with them to the Americas. The Bakongo people believed the spirit world was reversed and they were connected to it by water. Jugs, pitchers, and vases were decorated with items from the person’s life that may be needed in the afterlife. The items were broken, as that process released its spirit so it could help the dead in their next life. They were attached with materials that include putty, cement, plaster, mortar and clay, and were placed upside down and usually kept in homes or placed gravesites. Unmarked gravesite decorations in the United States are found primarily in the South. Known by many different names, some of them include memory vessel, mourning jug, forget-me-not jug, spirit jar and ugly jar. 

-Donnamarie Baptiste, Curator of For Those Gathered in the Wind, a solo show by artist T. Eliott Mansa