Taino Zemis and Other Heads of State Rediscovering Caribbean Art

The book consists of over 300 pages of text and previously unpublished photographs and offers new insights into Taino art history. The book contains 650 color photographs that add visual content to the text. The Taino were master carvers who created a distinctive deistic and ancestral assembly unrivaled by their pan-Caribbean contemporaries. Exceptional craftsmanship, carefully polished semiprecious stone, and ingenious technological skills speak to our aesthetic sensibilities. Though we may not understand the specifics of the art, the conceptual grasp is sublime. Taino art transmitted symbolic meaning, sacral ideology, and tribal lineage. A recognized system of shapes, design elements, and ideographs, formed a collective manifest that communicated social identity and cultural cohesion.