An ongoing exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art asks visitors to consider the connections between art and science — and how they each attempt to explore the why, when and how of our existence. “African Cosmos: Stellar Arts” illustrates how the stars and planets we see in the sky have been influencing African art and ritual for generations.

One of the first things visitors see as they enter is a meticulously painted Egyptian mummy case from about 1,000 years B.C. It was made for a female singer in the temple of the sun god Amun-Re.

Further along, there are masks, some of them 20 feet tall, elaborately carved from a single tree. Exhibit curator Christine Kreamer says the masks create a symbolic bridge between two realms when they’re used in rituals.

“We have the connection — sky and earth made by some of these masquerades that literally soar to the heavens when they are performed,” she says. That connection resonates throughout this exhibition — the experience of looking up at the sky and wondering what it all means.

Listen to the story about this exhibit here.