Meanings fo fetish sculptures

While commercial appropriations are taken for granted in fashion and design, the field of visual art has always maintained at least a pretext of critical distance, if only in the guise of artistic freedom. Critical distance, in a contemporary context, is a matter of thinking critically about the convoluted culture that both artists and designers are currently implicated in, of harnessing the conceptual possibilities of creative practice without directing it toward a commercial outcome. His work is cute, seductive, exceptionally marketable and consumable, wide-ranging and successful both critically and commercially. He has become a formidable capitalist and a formidable influence in the art world, most particularly in the context of contemporary Japanese art.

Southwest tribal miniature carvings that some say are imbued with spirit forces. Indian fetishes are hand-carved objects, which represent the spirits of animals or the forces of nature. From the earliest times in North America, the Indians have used fetishes in an effort to master the arbitrary and unpredictable forces beyond their control. The earliest fetishes are called Ahlashiwe or stone ancients by the Zunis. They were naturally formed stones that seemed to resemble people or animals, sometimes made more realistic with the features accentuated by a carver. They are considered more powerful and were formerly thought to be ancient animals or people turned to stone. All Southwestern tribes make and use fetishes.

Figure 1. Nkisi figure. Museum No. Photograph by Victoria Hobbs. Copyright Horniman Museum click image for larger version.

When fetish first appeared in English in the early 17th century, it referred to objects often amulets believed by certain West Africans to have supernatural powers. During the 19th century, the word took on a broader meaning: "an object of irrational devotion or reverence. By the early 20th century, fetish took on yet another meaning quite distinct from its antecedents: a sexualized desire for an object such as a shoe or for a body part that is not directly related to the reproductive act such as an earlobe. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'fetish. Send us feedback.