There are all sorts of ways to communicate power. Below are three images from the Metropolitan Museum and a fourth from VA Museum of Fine Arts exhibit on ancient Egyptian treasures (profiled below in Sept and July 2020).
Body Mask from the Asmat people of Papau New Guinea. mid 20th cent. Fiber, sago palm, wed, bamboo, feathers, seeds, paint.
"These imposing examples below of Maya, Khmer, Roman, and European sculpture assert a connection between the human and the divine, linking rulers to otherworldly powers or connecting worshippers with divine support. Sculptors transformed large blocks of stone into monumental images of gods and rulers to adorn public spaces, royal quarters, and places of worship. Working within distinctive traditions, they created objects whose size, placement, forms and materials communicated complex ideas about political and spiritual power."
The god Horus, shown as a falcon, protects the pharaoh and imbues him with divine powers.
How do our politicians today strive to communicate power?
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