COWRIES

cowrie shells

On Value and Exchange

Before currency, there was meaning.

Cowrie shells have long represented wealth—not only in material value, but in exchange, movement, and connection.

They traveled.

From water to land, from hand to hand, from one place to another—carrying with them a sense of worth that extended beyond the object itself.

To wear a cowrie is to carry that history.

Not as ornament alone, but as symbol.

Of abundance.
Of continuity.
Of what is passed, and what remains.

OSE

On Offering and Flow

Ose reflects a state of openness—
of giving and receiving without resistance.

It is tied to flow.
To the understanding that what is offered returns,
and what is held too tightly cannot move.

Within this collection, cowrie shells are placed with intention—
not only as a reference to value,
but as an extension of Ose.

Abundance is not static.
It moves.

It is exchanged.
It is carried forward.

In this work, the cowrie is not decorative.

It is intentional.

Placed as both symbol and reminder—
of what has been carried,
and what continues to circulate.