Provenance
How a Cultural Passport Documents a Work
In short
A museum-quality art print shows you what a work looks like. Its Cultural Passport tells you what it means, who made it and where it comes from. Every Raknida artwork comes with one.
What the Passport records
Each Passport holds five things, recorded for good:
- The artist, named, with their background and a statement in their own words.
- The tradition the work draws on, and how the artist came to it. Some works draw on none, and the Passport says so.
- The story behind the piece, written from the artist's own account.
- How it was made: by hand, digitally, AI-assisted or AI-generated, exactly as the artist declared.
- The edition: the tier, size and edition number, with the year the work was made.
The same record appears on the work's page. If we ever correct it, the change and its date are shown.
Who writes it
The artist writes the Passport with us. Our curators then review it before the work goes on sale. We look for something a buyer could check: a person, a place, a document or a date. A vague line such as “inspired by Yoruba culture” is the most common reason a story goes back to the artist.
When it reaches you
Your artwork is numbered when your order is fulfilled, so the Passport is finished then. We email it when your order ships, one per artwork. It is sized 5 × 7 in (13 × 18 cm), so you can print it and frame it beside the work.
Signature works and project orders receive a printed Passport. Lost yours? Email hello@raknida.com with your order number and we will send it again.
Passport and certificate
A Passport tells a work's story. It is not a certificate of authenticity, and it makes no claim about value or resale price. Collector Editions add a digital certificate. Limited Editions add one signed by the curator or founder, mailed separately.
Why provenance matters
Provenance is the documented origin and history of a work. For culturally rooted art it is the difference between a work that borrows a look and one that credits its sources. It also travels: give the artwork as a gift or pass it on, and its story goes with it.
Key terms
- Cultural Passport
- Raknida's digital record that comes with every work, documenting the artist, the tradition, the materials, the edition and how it was made.
- Provenance
- The documented origin and history of a work.
- Certificate of Authenticity (COA)
- A certificate of a work's authenticity: digital on Collector Editions, signed by the curator or founder on Limited Editions, and included with every Signature work.
Frequently asked
Is the Passport physical or digital?+
Do all editions come with a certificate?+
What makes a work "authentic" here?+
From this story
Curator's Note
KeO turns a girl's name into a playing card. There is a looping A in the corners, a mask at the centre, and in place of a body, a comb. Abi…
Curator's Note
Sisi is the Yoruba word for a young woman in her prime. Christian paints two of them mid-stride, one gazing up at the other as if the next …
Curator's Note
Before it was a square it was a racecourse, and the horses never left. Anth Ezeokoye puts the rearing horse statues at the centre of the gr…
Every Raknida work comes with its Cultural Passport — the artist, the tradition, and how it was made, documented.
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