Collection: Reptilian Collection

The Library of Congress's Jay I. Kislak Collection includes Mesoamerican codices and ceramics depicting Quetzalcoatl — the feathered serpent of pre-Columbian iconography, present in the archaeological record from Olmec through Aztec. The serpent god predates the European arrival. The motif is older than the boats.

This collection sits in the long shadow of serpent iconography in human culture and the institutions that hold it. From Sumerian Ningizzida (c. 2500 BCE) through Mesoamerican Quetzalcoatl through John Carpenter's They Live, released November 4, 1988 and reviewed in The New York Times the same day. The designs work the question of who is sitting at the table, what the lighting looks like in the green room, and what the museum chose to display.

All the iconography, the boardroom, and the question of whose face is on. Below.