Tracing Visual Lineages

Ngäbe-Buglé Dientes

• Teeth of animals: representing protection, strength, ancestral guardianship
• Mountains and hills: geography as sacred passage; the path of life
• Passageways: thresholds of transformation — internal and external
• Energy lines: some makers speak of them as vibrational patterns — like soundwaves sewn into cloth

Osage Ribbonwork Zigzags

• Lightning: divine energy, illumination, power, and sudden insight
• Thunder motifs (steps up/down): connection to sky beings and sound
• Directional: often linked to the four winds or forces of nature
• Ancestral identity: colors and patterns carry clan and family significance