Focus on this artwork and discuss the Description.
This skirt is densely covered in symbolic imagery. The large male and female figures, an ancestral couple, symbolize fertility and the continuity of life. In addition to their elaborate crowns, the couple's wrists, elbows, knees, and ankles are decorated, since the Sumbanese believed those regions to be energy repositories. Their stances are authoritative, with arms raised in prayer. The shrimp and lobsters on the skirt both stand for rebirth, due to their regenerative abilities. The vibrant red of the cloth itself is associated with fertility, blood, earth, and women. This combination of powerful imagery encourages fertility and a good relationship with the spirit world.
lobster Sumba shrimp