Description: The sculpture entitled "Pan-Africans' Handshake" shows two men: one on the African continent, the other in the Western Hemisphere. They reach across the Atlantic Ocean -- the middle passage -- to shake hands. That the continental African offers kola in welcome suggests a return by the Diaspora to the continent. Their faces are identical to emphasize their relatedness.

It's a Kwanzaa
Ceremonial Object

It's Traditional Yoruba
Bas Relief Sculpture

In designing our Kinaras, we effectively divided the traditional series of panels into individual panels; a common practice in Yoruba sculpture. All other aspects of the art form were retained.

Thus, scenes from domestic life, highly stylized compositions, facial features characteristic of the form, and latticework border designs* framing the sculpture, are elements of our Kinaras. In this way, without altering traditional content, form or technique, we proudly extend Yoruba bas-relief sculpture to embrace Kwanzaa.

Each Yoruba master sculptor was asked to render an interpretation of the 7 principles of Kwanzaa in wood (African Mahogany). Indeed, the Kwanzaa principle NIA, or Purpose, is illustrated by a scene from Yoruba oral tradition: Oduduwa -- in Yoruba cosmogony, the single ancestor of all humanity -- on a divine mission to form the continents of the earth (see Nia kinara at left).