Vintage Nyangatom Headrest - 220.2

A vintage headrest hand-carved from a single piece of indigenous timber by the Nyangatom, one of the pastoralist peoples of the Omo Valley in East Africa. More than somewhere to rest, headrests like this protected the elaborate sculptural coiffures that signalled identity and status, while lifting the sleeper above the dust and insects of the ground.

One of the few possessions carried across the plains, each is worn smooth with use and quietly marked by its owner's journey. A raw, tactile piece of functional art with real history.

Size: H 26cm × W 22cm × D 9cm.