Sekere

Hand-blown glass, gold leaf and threaded Sekere seeds Height: 13.38″ (34 cm) Edition of 5 ABOUT THE ARTWORK Niyi Olagunju’s Sights & Sounds series reimagines the traditional sekere, a percussion instrument in which threaded seeds surrounding a gourd create a distinctive rattling rhythm. Olagunju recreates the gourd form in hand-blown glass, while the threaded seeds traditionally responsible for producing its sound are embellished with gold and copper leaf. In transforming an instrument traditionally experienced through sound into a sculptural object experienced visually, Olagunju shifts the language of music into the visual realm—moving, in the artist’s terms, from the aural to the visual.