This elegant hand-built object by sculptor Helga Gamboa (b. 1961) incorporates myriad elements of the artist’s aesthetic heritage. Raised in Angola, on the west coast of southern Africa, Gamboa creates an earthenware vessel in honor of indigenous pottery; adorned with blue and white floral decals recalling the tableware imported by Portuguese colonists, and emblazoned with emblems of the slave ships that plied their trade for over 150 years.
The danger symbol deep within Servitude II reminds us of the recent civil war and remaining landmines that continue to maim and kill.