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Memory Board (lukasa)
Artist / Origin: Luba artist, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Region: Africa
Date: 20th century
Period: 1900 CE – 2010 CE
Material: Wood, beads, nails, cowrie shells
Medium: Sculpture
Dimensions: H: 7 ¾ in. (19.7 cm.), W: 5 in. (12.7 cm.), D: 2 in. (5.1 cm.)
Location: Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
Credit: Courtesy of the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University
Lienzo of Ihuitlan
Artist / Origin: Mexican School, Oaxaca
Region: North America
Date: Mid-16th century
Period: 1400 CE – 1800 CE
Material: Cotton, dyed pigments, and ink
Medium: Textiles and Fiber Arts
Dimensions: H: 97 ¾ in. (248.2 cm.), W: 62 in. (157.4 cm)
Location: Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Credit: Courtesy of the Brooklyn Museum, Carll H. de Silver Fund/Bridgeman Art Library
Where rulership is dynastic, history—specifically genealogy—can be critical to the authority and stability of government. Throughout the ages, different cultures have adopted a variety of means through which to trace kinship visually, often for political purposes. In early modern Europe, there are genealogical trees. The people of many Pacific cultures have traditionally represented their ancestral lineages through carvings in their ceremonial houses. Among the Luba in Africa and the Mixtec in Mexico, lukasa and lienzos, respectively, play similar roles.