Ninti
Ninti’s History
Ninti is a character in a Sumerian creation story called Enki and Ninhursag. The story is about the creation of the city of Dilmun, an ancient city mentioned from the 3rd millennium BC onwards based on contextualized evidence and archaeological finds. And is said to be located near the Persian Gulf in the ancient past. The story is an allegory about the relationship between water and fertile soil, and the product of the two elements combined. This relationship between these two elements are personified and show up as the interactions between Ninhurshag, being the goddess of the land, and Enki being the god of water or the sea. Later in the story Ninhurshag and Enki ended up having a major disagreement which lead to Ninhurshag moving away from Dilmun. While away Enki ate a plant planted by Ninhurshag, he was instructed not to eat, and falls sick. In desperation to heal Enki, the party of Gods surrounding him reach out to Ninhurshag and beg her to come back to do something about Enki’s sickness. She agrees to comeback and heal Enki. To heal him she fashions mini worker gods or extentions of herself and assigns them to heal respective parts of Enki’s body in pain due to the aliment. Ninti was among eight gods that were created and she was tasked to heal Enki’s ribs. Ninti’s name has multiple meanings and translates to “Lady of the month”, “Lady who makes Live”, and “Lady of the rib.”
About the box designer !!!
I Am Keoni Coleman, aka UF0, I'm an Austin-Texas based Multidisciplinary Artist with a background in Illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design. My work delves into the surreal and fantastic, aiming to challenge conventional narratives and invite viewers to question their perceptions. The creative process is deeply spiritual for me, a journey of translating internal visions and unexpected ideas into tangible forms. I believe art has the power to weave new life into our world, offering subtle lessons that may not be immediately apparent. I implore everyone to dig deeper into the stories that surround us, for within them lies the joy and understanding of both our own lives and the interconnectedness of humanity. - UF0
For more information or to purchase my work feel free to check out my website but clicking the button !
U.F.O’s Process
I was first asked to work on the box design for the Ninti in-ears back in June 2023. Roger told me Black Rose’s mission statement and what his goals for the project were. To combine the art of sound, sound design, and visual art was the mission. When I first heard ancient Sumer in our conversation I was elated. I've always been a fan of mythological deities and icons. I was excited and immediately commenced research on the two deities that the box’s contents were pulling from.
For projects like these I simply do my research and create a mood board with pictures and keywords to fully envision the idea. The research is always the best part. Learning the story of Ninti and Enki was very enlightening yet difficult. Considering there isn’t much to pull from on baseline research only truly had a few documents and images that had real depth. I pooled it all together for the box design. I wanted something that was colorful and stilling but still created a sense of historical significance and fantasy in the viewer. The front of the box is the world tree or the tree of life. It shows up in Mesopotamian and Sumerian myth as a giant tree that connects all the universe with its roots and branches.
For The box I made it rainbow vibrant to show its ability to reach inside any realm giving life and knowledge. Inside the box I have Ninti and Enki. Ninti is a healing goddess born from Enki’s rib. For her I used warm colors and greens to uphold the healing maiden archetype for her which was my goalpost. And Enki being a god of wisdom, water and magic, I wanted to give him a strong quiet disposition even in deep pain remaining stoic. He’s featured sitting being healed by Ninti with water and fishes swirling around him.
In the air around the two are ancient Sumerian symbols. On the sides of the piece I researched the goddess Ishtar’s Lions who guard her gates to me and their guarding wisdom of this new ancient knowledge box. Black rose I’m honored and excited to see how clients respond to the boxes and how Black Rose will continue teaching the masses through artistic collaboration and innovative sound design. I’m so proud of the boxes and honored to have Been selected to carry out the vision for such amazing in-ears.
