Draft:Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers

Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers is a collection of 16 life-size glass statues of Black queer Kemetic deities by Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna, Pittsburgh-based co-founders of the Rainbow Serpent Collective. They began work on the project in 2021 at the Pittsburgh Glass Center, where it was first exhibited on May 3, 2024.

Taken as a whole, the 16 figures of this project comprise the foundation of a complex cultural system, one that can claim to be the world’s first Black LGBTQ+ spiritual path. The rituals and practices that accompany these deities form part of a newly developed branch of traditional African religion that has strong conceptual and spiritual ties to ancient Egyptian religion, Kushite religion, Yoruba religion, Dogon religion, Odinala, Haitian Vodou, and Santeria. Rooted in a rich tapestry of African traditions, Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers fuses art and spirituality in its celebration of Black queer divinity.

Background

The 16 models for Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers were chosen from the Rainbow Serpent Collective, a vibrant network of Black LGBTQ+ artists, spiritualists, and technologists spanning the USA, England, and Nigeria. This project expands upon Rainbow Serpent’s articulations of traditional African cosmologies, innovative healing protocols, and emerging technologies from Black queer perspectives in the domains of photography, live performance, and film.

The term “gatekeeper,” popularized by Dagara spiritualists Malidoma and Sobonfu Somé, describes a lineage of African spirit workers, artisans, and diviners who are able to vibrate masculine and feminine energy. Because of this multi-gendered energetic capacity, gatekeepers preserve a special connection to the Creator, the Primordial Androgynous Blackness from which all life emerges, and as such are tasked with maintaining the “gates,” the high vibrational points connecting the physical to the spiritual world. Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers is grounded in these ideas about the spiritual purpose of Black LGBTQ+ people, and it aims to empower and celebrate this community by reclaiming and reviving the rich legacy of queer identity from the perspective of traditional African spiritual sciences.

The “gatekeeper” is a pan-African concept also found in funerary papyri from Kemet that provide intricate mappings of the Duat (or Netherworld), a perilous landscape filled with various gates that must be traversed by the sun god during the hours of night and by the deceased. Each gate is guarded by a gatekeeper deity, who only allows passage to those who know the proper incantation. With awe-inspiring names such as “Strident of Voice,” “ Killer of Opponents,” and “Vigilant of Face,” they represent the fierce powers that Black LGBTQ+ people need to conjure in order to fight against all of the attacks the community faces.

The term “‘myth-science” originates from the cosmic philosophy of Black queer jazz musician Sun Ra, whose work provides a model for how to reanimate Kemetic cultural motifs, and it is a fitting description of traditional African cosmological systems. “Myth-science” is a mode of knowledge not concerned with the study of external objects, but with using potent combinations of rituals and symbols to catalyze the deep transformation and expansion of consciousness, with the final goal being the divinization of the human. It is a fusion of art, technology, and spirituality that coalesces to reveal new dimensions of understanding and expression.

By presenting this collection of Kemetic deities, Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers is engaged in many acts of spiritual and cultural reclamation. It especially draws on the rich importance of Kemet not only as an important Black classical civilization, but as a central locus for Black LGBTQ+ history. Kemet provides the first record of a same-sex couple in human history - Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum - and innovative portrayals of androgynous deities - such as Hapi - which mark its high culture as a foundational chapter in the history of human sexuality and gender diversity.

Technique

The statues of Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers have two components: busts that were made using a lost-wax casting process and headpieces affixed to them that were fabricated with glassblowing and hot-sculpting techniques. Each bust is made of black glass mixed with bits of crushed glass whose colors match the unique color signature used for each headpiece. These works provide a 21st-century interpretation of Kemetic granodiorite statues, which were traditionally made of a coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock similar to granite.

Models were selected and assigned to represent a particular deity through a process of divination. This method assured that the deities were being embodied by figures who resonated with their attributes. For example, the model representing Geb, the deity of the earth, is the vice president of a biotechnology firm that develops bioactive compounds from plants and fungi. His work has an impact on nutritional supplements, agriculture, and the food and beverage industry, all things under Geb’s purview. Blending ancient and modern Black aesthetic sensibilities, wax versions of the models were sculpted to have a wide variety of Afro-textured hair styles, including an Afro, frohawk, dreadlocks, sponge curl, long coils, bubble braids, hi-top fade, box braids, cornrows, and waves . This project marks the first time that many of these styles have been represented in glass.

Creating Kemetic deities in glass also pays tribute to the origin and rich history of glassmaking in Kemet, with the earliest glass factories found there also. The project is also in conversation with the history of glassmaking in Pittsburgh, which began when James O’Hara established the Pittsburgh Glassworks in 1795. O’Hara was a slave owner, and a woman he purchased was ironically named “Comfort.” By providing images of Black divinity in glass, Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers seeks to undo and reverse the local connections between glassmaking and slavery.  

Deities

The Kemetic language’s terms nṯr and nṯrw, often transliterated as neter and neteru, are usually defined as “god” and “gods.” Yet more precisely, the neteru are forces or principles of nature that manifest simultaneously on many levels: cosmological, psychological, astrological, sociological, ecological, biological, etc. In his book Metu Neter Volume 1, Ra Un Nefer Amen describes the neteru as “the shaping factors of all physical structures and events [that] underlie, direct, and integrate all physical realities - from the subtlest sub-electronic forces, to the complex of galaxies, to the organ systems making up the physical body of Man.  

Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers features the following deities:

• Geb represents the interconnectedness of the Earth’s ecological systems and symbolizes the foundational aspects of life and the environment.
• Maahus, the protector and warrior deity, embodies the principles of strength and resilience within the gatekeeper community.  
• Miau, associated with all forms of non-heteronormative sexuality, emphasizes its significance as a healing and joyful force.
• Apuat, linked to communication and language, illustrates the limitations and potential of words in shaping reality.
• Khepera, symbolized by the transformative journey of the dung beetle, represents the potential for personal and spiritual transformation.
• Khonsu manifests as the gatekeeper’s capacity to nurture other people and things and highlights the importance of introspection, dreaming, trance, and shamanic journeying.
• Ra, as the deity of choice and leadership, teaches the value of autonomy, the power of decision-making, and the purpose of sharing and displaying our unique gifts for others.
• Sobek, the crocodile god, oversees all gateways and transitions and demands that attention be given to all important details of life (e.g., diet, hygiene, exercise, work, clear thinking, and efficient organization).
• Ahi encompasses the talent of making all gatekeeper relationships, from the realms of romance to business, full of social harmony.
• Serq, the scorpion deity, represents the part of us that contains venom, internalized heterosexism and homonegativity, meanness, ill will, hurt, resentment, shame, guilt, toxic emotions, addictions, and suicidal self-destructive thoughts and tendencies.
• Uatcha, associated with the cobra, represents the need of gatekeepers for concentration, manipulating subtle energy, and unlocking psychic abilities.
• Ptah is the craftsman and architect of the gods. He symbolizes ideas of form, structure, and cycles that provide the blueprint for all things.
• Tehuti-Maa, lord of omniscience, oversees all oracles and processes of divination; as such, he emphasizes the interconnectedness of all aspects of life.
• Hapi, the androgynous personification of the Nile River, celebrates the unity and balance of dualities and reflects a stage of enlightenment and perfection.  
• Nu, representing infinite energy-matter, encourages the loss of self at the deepest level of being and the apprehension of the oneness of all things.  
• Amun is the representation of the infinite consciousness that predates and will post-date the material world.

Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers  is a project of historical reverence, artistic innovation, and cultural reclamation.

Gallery

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  Khonsu. A glass statue from the series Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers by Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna.
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  Apuat. A glass statue from the series Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers by Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna.
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  Hapi. A glass statue from the series Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers by Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna.
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  Geb. A glass statue from the series Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers by Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna.
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  Serq. A glass statue from the series Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers by Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna.
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  Maahus. A glass statue from the series Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers by Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna.
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  Khepera. A glass statue from the series Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers by Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna.
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  Ahi. A glass statue from the series Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers by Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna.
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  Amun. A glass statue from the series Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers by Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna.
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  Nu. A glass statue from the series Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers by Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna.
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  Ra. A glass statue from the series Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers by Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna.
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  Sobek. A glass statue from the series Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers by Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna.
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  Uatcha. A glass statue from the series Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers by Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna.
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  Tehuti. A glass statue from the series Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers by Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna.
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  Ptah. A glass statue from the series Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers by Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna.
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  Miau. A glass statue from the series Myth-Science of the Gatekeepers by Marques Redd and Mikael Owunna.