Nammu

Nammu is the name of the Sumerian goddess of the underground ocean – the source of life-giving waters and fertility, the creator of the great gods of Heaven and Earth, and the one who first conceived the idea of humankind.

The sculpture is a rusted, unyielding, yet rounded and cradling vessel, its inner space protected by a ring of iron bristles. This mother does all she can, though she is hardly what we imagine as a nurturing environment. Perhaps we underestimate the healing and strengthening power of sheer devotion, even when every other condition is adverse.