The Ogun Sisters

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A mixed media print depicting a mirror image of two female figures wearing African masks and maids’ uniforms, standing at an ironing board and pressing textiles. This central image is surrounded by various symbols for iron. Each maid figure has a pendant at their chest with the atomic structure of the element iron. Above the figures' heads in black ink is a Haitian sign for Ogun, a Yoruba deity of iron. At bottom center is a large, black and red diagram for the atomic structure of the element iron. It consists of four concentric black rings with red dots arranged at intervals along the rings. In the center is text that reads "26 protons/ 30 neutrons." The print has a brown border with a repeated iron-shaped motif formed by white dots resembling the steam vents on an iron.

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