African Art and Architecture

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Furniture

Stools and headrests are the traditional forms of furniture in Africa. Stools, like other household items, can have both everyday and spiritual functions. Carved out of wood, some stools are very elaborate in design, especially when intended for a ceremony. The Luba people of central Africa produce caryatid stools, in which a male or female figure carved out of wood supports the stool’s seat. These stools appear only at the king’s investiture (taking office) ceremonies. On most Luba stools, a kneeling female caryatid represents the owner’s important female ancestors. Among the Ashanti of Ghana, a subgroup of the Akan people, there are both sacred and domestic stools. The most sacred stool of all is the Golden Stool, which is a symbol of the Ashanti nation. No one is allowed to sit on the Golden Stool; instead, it is enshrined on its own chair. The Ashanti valued their domestic or personal stools highly because they believed a person’s spirit was absorbed into the stool each time that person sat on it. When not in use, the stool was placed on its side so that no one else could use it. A typical Ashanti stool consists of a curved seat with an intricately carved support that indicated the owner’s social status.

Wooden headrests, used instead of a pillow to support the head and neck during sleep, have been an important household item in much of Africa. Often carved elaborately, they look like miniature stools with a curved platform for the base of the head atop a decoratively carved support. Because they elevated the head, headrests also protected the elaborate hairstyles of men and women during sleep. Among the Shona of southern Africa, headrests carved with geometric designs served an additional function: facilitating communication with ancestor spirits. In Shona belief, a man who dreamed was visiting his ancestors. Today, only Shona diviners (people with special spiritual powers) use headrests for this purpose.

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Art and Ritual

Belief in the supernatural has traditionally played an important role in many African societies (see African Religions). This belief incorporates elements of magic (belief in the mystic potency of certain persons or objects), animism (belief in the existence of spirits of several kinds), and religion (belief in the existence of gods and goddesses who must be appeased through rituals). Rituals are meant to exert control over the uncertainties of life by harnessing positive forces from ancestors, gods, or other spirits and by limiting negative forces. The performance of these rituals calls for special objects, including masks, headdresses, and statues. Many ritual objects are believed to house powerful spirits or to provide a means of communication with such spirits.

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Masks

Masks are worn during festivals, celebrations, and ceremonies whose purposes are to cleanse, honor, entertain, initiate, or bless. A mask serves both to disguise and to protect the wearer, who is most often male, as he performs in dances or theatrical skits. Most masks are carved of wood, although some are made of cloth and other materials. They may be decorated with paint, beads, cloth, or raffia.

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Masks can be divided into two categories: facemasks, which cover only the face, and helmet masks, which cover the entire head. The Baule, a subgroup of the Akan of western Africa, have several types of masks, each associated with a specific function. Baule masks are worn to protect the community from dangers, celebrate a harvest, honor and entertain important visitors, or commemorate people who have died. A judge ruling on a criminal case may wear an aggressive wooden helmet mask with horns to impress and terrify wrongdoers. A smaller facemask with female features is used in performances that entertain and honor members of the community.

By themselves, masks are regarded as ineffectual, but when someone wears a mask and full costume and dances with the accompaniment of music and singing, the mask becomes a powerful spiritual force. In general, only men wear masks, but in some cultures, such as the Mende of Liberia and Sierra Leone, women also own and perform in masks. As part of a ritual that initiates them into a female society, Mende women wear a black helmet mask that represents a water spirit.

Because of the power certain masks possess in performance, some people are not allowed to look at them, even if the masks are used in a ritual performed in a public place. Among the Senufo of the Côte d’Ivoire, for example, a certain masked dance eases the passage of a dead person’s spirit from this life to the afterworld. Women of childbearing age are not allowed to see this dance for fear that it might harm their unborn children; the Senufo also believe that the women’s life-giving power might impede the transition of the dead person’s spirit.

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Headdresses

Headdresses are worn on top of the head, sometimes in addition to fiber or cloth that disguises the wearer. Ceremonies involving headdresses have a variety of purposes, from the investment of power in a king to the blessing of land for cultivation. The Bambara (or Bamana) people of Mali depend on farming for their livelihood, and they use the Chi Wara headdress in ceremonies to bless the land and celebrate the harvest. The Chi Wara consists of a carved wooden animal form with long antelope horns; this form is attached to a basket that is placed on the top of the head. It represents a mythological creature, half man and half antelope, that taught the Bambara how to till the soil. Dancers in male and female pairs wear the mask in rituals at harvest and planting seasons.

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Ceremonial and Religious Objects

Most African religions focus on controlling the elements that produce and sustain life, such as air, water, and soil, as well as supernatural forces. Individuals seek to achieve this control through contact with ancestor or nature spirits. Most African cultures believe that ancestor spirits act as intermediaries between the human community and god, the creator. Art objects, usually wooden or clay figures, may be used to make contact with these spirits and guide their powers.

Among the Kota (or BaKota) of Gabon, carved wooden guardian figures oversee and protect the remains of dead ancestors and other important individuals whose spirits can intercede between humanity and an all-mighty creator. These Kota figures have large, concave, oval faces with small eyes and no mouth; narrow necks; and open, lozenge-shaped bodies. Wire or thin sheets of brass or copper cover the wooden forms, decorating them and protecting them from decay. The figures are placed above baskets containing the bones and other remains of the dead. These baskets are kept in huts at the edge of the village, into which only designated villagers may enter.

Some ceremonial objects serve more personal ends. Such objects can take various forms: statues, bowls, stools, masks, or even staffs and knives. By manipulating one of these objects, the handler may hope to benefit an individual, a group, or a community.

For example, in the Baule culture, each man or woman has a spouse in the spirit world. If a person is troubled by his or her spirit-spouse, that person will have a small statue of the spirit carved. Baule spirit-spouse statues have intricately carved hairstyles and patterns across the surface that represent scarification (ornamental or symbolic scarring of the skin). A troubled person might try to please her or his spirit-spouse by manipulating the statue, oiling it, clothing it, and adorning it with jewelry. She or he then wraps the statue in cloth and keeps it in the bedroom. Today, female spirit-spouse statues may take the form of a woman wearing a dress, high-heeled shoes, and a contemporary hairstyle, while male statues might wear a suit and tie.

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