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The Pittsburgh Glass Center exhibition “Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers” is best experienced twice, one layer at a time.
The show, by Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna of the Pittsburgh-based Rainbow Serpent Collective, explores what they call “Afro-diasporic myth-science.” It’s their take on ancient Egyptian, or “Kemetic,” deities through a queer lens as a way of empowering contemporary audiences.
In full gallery lighting, visitors can enter a sort of temple, with life-sized glass busts on white pedestals lining two facing walls, eight deities to each side. Each of the 16 figures is a distinct individual cast in black glass and adorned with a richly colorful symbolic headpiece: protector and warrior god Maahus, his head surmounted by the deep-orange head of a lion; Sobek, solemn beneath a crocodile head as bright-green as the new leaves of spring.
Other deities embody traits from ecological consciousness and “the sacred aspects of queer sexuality” to “wisdom, balance, and the cosmic order.”
At 1 p.m. daily, the gallery darkens for repeated showings of “Blackstar Sanctuary.” The fantastical, 15-minute immersive animated film projected on all four gallery walls is basically a tour — led by a giant serpent — of a huge stone temple that houses full-body versions of those same deities, though it dramatically incorporates the physical sculptures too.
Owunna is among Pittsburgh’s most widely exhibited artists, and this is he and Redd’s latest project as Rainbow Serpent. The term “myth-science,” borrowed from avant-garde jazz icon Sun Ra, refers to a practice of expanding consciousness through the use of rituals and symbols.
Ancient Egyptian deities might seem a curious choice to inspire 21st-century folks. But Kemetic religion has its followers, and Owunna says of himself and Redd that deities like these “definitely figure into our personal spiritual practice.”
The busts, created using latex molds of models from the Rainbow Serpent Collective, are especially notable for their highly individualized hairstyles, from Afros and dreadlocks to sponge curls, bubble braids and cornrows. (Owunna and Redd developed their own technique for sculpting and casting their models’ hair, and they say it’s the first time Black hair has been replicated so faithfully in glass.)
“Blackstar Sanctuary,” meanwhile, is compelling spectacle — a photorealistic journey from a nighttime desert to daybreak that suggests a hidden, even magical realm of possibilities for those who commune with these gatekeepers.
Text accompanying the exhibit states that the show draws on “an ancient African lineage of queer spirit workers, artisans and diviners.” But Owunna and Redd acknowledge that, in many cases, the queerness of these figures is a matter of interpretation.
Some of these deities, it’s true, are traditionally queer. Examples include the intersex river god Hapi, whom ancient images depict as male with a pregnant belly and pendulous breasts. But most of these 16 figures are not typically seen as queer.
“We are creatively interpreting them from our perspective,” Owunna says.
Redd, who has studied ancient Egyptian culture since his undergraduate days at Harvard, situates “Myth-Science” in the wider context of African religions, where deities often assume different forms (and genders) over time. There are countless Kemetic deities, he says; this set of 16 was chosen to represent the full spectrum of human endeavor.
Take Apuat, whose headpiece is a mischievous-looking purple jackal. Nothing in this god’s traditional rendering indicates he’s queer. But Redd notes that he’s seen as a trickster figure and a guide for the dead. Redd and Owunna interpreted that to mean Apuat leads people from one state of existence to the next, suggesting the shape-shifting and changing frames of reference often associated with queer lives.
Owunna says a preview presentation on the exhibit was received warmly by Egyptologists at the annual conference of the American Research Center in Egypt, held in Pittsburgh in April.
The exhibit impressed ARCE member Lisa Haney, who’s Egyptologist at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
“It’s really amazing,” says Haney. She acknowledged that ancient Egyptian culture as we understand it is gender-binary, and that little is known about queer lives in that culture. But, she adds, any chance to consider the culture from a new perspective “is a really great opportunity.”
“Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers” opened at the Glass Center in May. It continues through Sun., July 28. More info is here.
