An Unexpected Detour at SAM

The 4th floor display of world art at the Seattle Art Museum cannot fail to impress. A visit on Sunday afternoon reaffirmed my resolve to return more often. Although I came to view paintings in the landscape exhibition, I found myself returning to this exhibit for a second and third time. There is so much to see and so much to learn by reading the description on each piece. 

The clothed mannequins and tall sculpture pedestals beyond the escalators seem to populate a village with their masks, shirts, coats, dresses and headdresses from Congo, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Liberia, Guinea, and other west African nations.

Eventually, museum goers became an almost inconspicuous part of the tableau. 

Is it true that we exist in a series of parallel universes? It seemed as though a momentary time lapse occurred in a quiet corner of the gallery.