These two Zulu beer pots, while designed for use in a domestic setting, also play a key role in Zulu rituals. The Zulu consider beer as food for their ancestors, making the offering of libations a communicative device with the spiritual realm. They place these pots in the darkened rear of their households, a sacred and covert zone where ancestors might linger. The black coloration of the pots further emphasizes this association between darkness and ancestral spirits. Therefore, these beer pots function as intermediaries between the earthly and spiritual realms.

From the exhibition: African Pots and Gender (November 14, 2009 – January 3, 2010)