Pre-Columbian civilizations in Central America used the human body as a prism for understanding and depicting the supernatural.

Artworks from the era portray a human head emerging from the jaws of a monster, the transformation of bodies into divine beings, and passage into the afterlife. Objects from five Mesoamerican civilizations—Maya, Teotihuacán, Nayarit, Zapotec, and Aztec—explore the spiritual and the sacred, plumbing the mutable line between humans, gods, and animals.

The Seeds of Divinity is curated by Antonia Foias, Chair and Professor of Anthropology. This past fall students in Anthropology 281 collaborated on the interpretation and display of the objects. Exhibition design by David Gürçay-Morris, Associate Professor of Theatre.