Face Jugs: Art and Ritual in 19th-Century South Carolina

Milwaukee Art Museum's exhibition “Face Jugs: Art and Ritual in 19th-Century South Carolina” (through Aug. 5) focuses on a type of pottery created by African Americans living under dehumanizing conditions as slaves in the Edgefield District of South Carolina. Making objects for one's personal use was an unusual and often prohibited act. An informative brochure functions as a gallery guide, describing how these vessels may have been misunderstood by white outsiders as water jugs (though they are really far too small for this purely practical use). A more likely scenario is that these were made, in part, as secretive, spiritual objects. According to the exhibition wall text, "A recent discovery further suggests that face jugs were used for conjuring or some other ritual practice."