Idemili I is an ode to the water spirits and deities of West Africa. Meaning “pillar of water” in the Igbo language, this feminine deity governs fertility, justice, and morality. The python is said to be her sacred messenger, and in many Igbo cultures, people will dance and celebrate if they come across a python in their home.
This is a far cry from what I grew up seeing and learning. Each time my mom found even the smallest garden snake in the crops in our backyard, she would kill it out of fear.
In 2017, when I learned that pythons were once considered messengers of God in Igbo cosmology, I almost cried. It made me think about all the ways we had been taught to fear our original spiritual practices, ourselves, and our own power, truly.
It also made me think of that season of my childhood when I became obsessed with snakes, pouring through our family’s encyclopedia bookshelf to learn how they were built and how they moved through the world. So much so that I vividly remember a field trip to a park in elementary school when a cottonmouth was passing through a small stream of water and all the kids ran away in terror. I stayed behind, watching in fascination.
I felt so much shame around admitting how much I loved them. Finding out how deeply Igbo people revered them before European spirituality healed a deep generational wound in me.
The piece is an altar jar, created for libations and rituals honoring the water goddess of West Africa. The winding handles, adorned with a 24K gold piece, pay homage to the sacred python, a cherished animal in my life.
Ceramic
10 × 10 × 13 in.
2026