Kuba Shoowa Prestige Panel

In Kuba country, cloth was a language. Raffia, cut and woven, said who you were.

This Shoowa panel was made in the 20th century in the Democratic Republic of Congo, embroidered in cut pile on raffia. Kuba raffia cloth marked status, traveled in gift exchange and was kept as a form of wealth. Dark brown lines run in a diagonal lattice across the natural ground, framing diamonds ringed in bands of cream and brown. Along the lower edge, half diamonds with solid black triangular centers close the pattern.

A raffia border holds it all in, nineteen inches by twenty-four. Hang it alone, or beside a friend.