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KONGO across the WatersFebruary 27 – May 25, 2015Exhibition labels and textKongo across the Waters explores the vibrant culture of Kongo peoples from West Central Africa and the transmission and enduring influence of that culture in the United States. Over a period of more than 500 years Kongo peoples developed a sophisticated culture in West Central Africa. By the end of the fifteenth century they had formed a vast kingdom south of the Congo River. When Portuguese ships first appeared off the coast of Kongo in 1483 Kongos were most eager to establish commercial relations with the newcomers. Portuguese ships took back the finest textiles and ivory carvings that were much admired in Europe. Kongo’s engagement went beyond the mere exchange of goods and king Nzinga a Nkuwu’s conversion to Christianity in 1491 was a prelude to the active participation of Kongo elites in an emerging Atlantic ‘creole culture.’ In many ways Kongos transformed European cultural imports into new hybrid forms that remained meaningful within their own understanding of the world. When confronted with an increasing Portuguese demand for slaves, Kongo initially supplied individuals from the more remote interior of Central Africa. Later internal conflicts within Kongo led to the enslavement of more and more Kongolese who by the thousands were shipped to plantations in the Americas. In the southern United States Kongolese formed the largest single group of enslaved Africans and they left a distinctive mark on the development of African American cultures. Kongo heritage in the United States is found in the archaeological record, in diverse folk arts, and in music and dance.Kongo across the Waters explores the legacies of Kongo history and culture in both West Central Africa and the southern United States, and demonstrates how Kongo art continues to inspire contemporary artists today. The exhibition is the result of the scholarly collaboration between the Harn Museum at the University of Florida and the Royal Museum of Central Africa in Tervuren, Belgium. Many of the loans from the collections of the Royal Museum of Central Africa have never been seen before in the United States.The Kingdom of KongoIn the fifteenth century, or even earlier, a town situated on a hilltop about seventy miles south of the Congo River became the center of a powerful kingdom, called Kongo. From the town of Mbanza Kongo, a growing territory was brought under the control of a king and his nobility. To distinguish themselves from commoners, they surrounded and dressed themselves with tokens of their high position, which included delicate objects carved in ivory and finely woven and decorated raffia textiles.A dramatic encounter in 1483 marked the further development of the Kongo kingdom, when white sailors came from a kingdom that they called Portugal, across the waters. More foreign visitors landed on Kongo’s shore in the following years. Prestigious gifts were exchanged and talks were about trade and religious matters. Kongo elites were eager to learn and adopted the seemingly powerful religion of the whites, Christianity. Priests from Europe taught the people many new stories, prayers and songs, and they distributed crucifixes and images of saints.Filippo PigafettaItalian, 1533 - 1604Engraved by Johann Theodor de BryTabula Geogra Regni Congo, Map of the Kongo Kingdom1598, Ink on paper George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Map and Imagery Library Collection, G8650 1598.B79This beautifully illustrated map mostly reflects sixteenth-century European imagination about the Kongo kingdom, with imaginary rivers and lakes and fortified medieval style towns scattered over its territory. The largest of these is the kingdom’s capital, S?o Salvador. The map’s legend features the coat of arms of King Alvaro I of Kongo (r. 1568–87).Sword of Honor Kongo peopleLower Congo, DRC Late 16th centuryWood, ironRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, HO.1955.9.22The Kongo kingdom’s elite acquired swords of honor that were displayed and used at a variety of occasions. They were locally produced and about one meter long, crafted with the blade, guard and handle in the same plane. The guard was elaborately shaped and decorated, with one “arm” going up and the other pointing down, and with a pommel that had two eyelike openings. The design is deliberately anthropomorphic and may have referred to the ideal of the vigorous sangamento dancer.These swords were collected in the twentieth century in regions once part of the kingdom. They were called mbele a lulendo, sword of power. Although we do not know their precise date of manufacture, it seems that for a long time such swords had been powerful symbols of legitimacy. Originally inspired by Iberian examples, they combined deep-rooted central African metaphors of iron kingship with European-derived symbolism of swords as emblems of nobility and Christian knighthood.Staff FinialKongo peopleLower Congo, DRC17th–18th centuryBrassRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, HO.1953.100.1The number of ordained clergy in the kingdom of Kongo was always small in proportion to the entire population and Christianity therefore relied heavily on lay ministers. They were drawn from Kongo’s nobility and called “masters of the church.” Their main role was to teach, so that the basic elements of the doctrine, and the prayers and songs, would be known by the people.Church masters carried staffs with finely decorated brass finials as symbols of their authority. The two finials here show a sitting human figure with hands folded as if in prayer, put against a square frame that has a cross on top or leaf-like decorations at the corners. Such frames may refer to the altars and chapels that missionaries built on their travels through the countryside. Horn Solongo peopleAngola18th–19th centuryIvoryRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, MO.1967.63.802Ivory trumpets, called mpungi, were crafted with great care from an elephant tusk that was hollowed from the inside and scraped thin. The example here shows both European and Kongo style characteristics. The etching references the cross of the Order of Christ, established in Kongo in the early seventeenth century, while the side placement of the mouthpiece is more typical of African-style trumpets. Such delicate trumpets were used only within the retinues of Kongo chiefs. Ivory trumpets were played during the funeral ceremonies of important chiefs and on the occasion of the investiture of a successor. They were also used at feasts, for rousing men during times of war, and for announcing visitors.Pieter Van der AaDutch (Leiden), 1659-1733[publisher]Four Scenes of the Kongo Kingdom, from Galerie Agréable du Monde1725Copperplate engravingSamuel P. Harn Museum of Art: Museum purchase funds provided by an Anonymous Donor, 2012.59The scenes of the Kongo kingdom in this engraving were not based on the artist’s observation but on an imaginative interpretation of accounts of others. The print was published in Pieter Van der Aa’s multi-volume illustrated atlas, Galerie Agréable du Monde, that epitomized the use of images of exotic places and peoples that became popular in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. The four scenes of the Kongo kingdom, include (from top left, clockwise): the king receiving foreign visitors, clothing and weapons of a warrior, noblewomen, and noblemen. Joan BlaeuDutch, 1596-1673Regna Congo et Angola, Map of Kongo and Angola1662, Ink on paperGeorge A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Map and Imagery Library Collection, G8630 1662.B5 CARTAThe map shows the itinerary of the Dutch traveler Jan van Herder, who traveled from Luanda via S?o Salvador to the Kwango River in 1642. Some of his observations are noted on the map in Middle Dutch, among which several mentions of a Tolhu?s (toll house), indicating places where passing trade caravans had to pay tribute.Kongo’s Conversion to ChristianityIn 1491, the Kongo king Nzinga a Nkuwu demanded to be baptized, along with several members of the nobility. He took the Portuguese name of Jo?o I. After a war with opponents of the new religion, his son and successor Afonso I (r. 1509-1542) did much to spread Christianity throughout the kingdom. The Christian doctrine was translated into terms and concepts taken from Kongo cosmology and belief, and thus made easily understandable to most of the people. A Catholic priest, for example, was a nganga and things holy were called nkisi, terms that made sense to Kongolese.After study in Europe, Afonso’s son Henrique became the first bishop of Kongo, and from 1518 to 1532 he developed a Kongo born ordained clergy. The organization of the church remained firmly in Kongo hands, also when the local clergy was not renewed and European priests became increasingly scarce. Lay Christians in the roles of interpreter, church master or catechist continued an educational system, which was the base of Kongo’s church. For more than three centuries, Kongo was considered a Christian kingdom by the highest church authorities in Rome.CrucifixKongo peopleLower Congo, DRC18th centuryWood, copper alloyRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, HO.1955.9.17After the king’s conversion in 1491, Christianity became the dominant religion in Kongo. In its practice Christianity was allowed to blend with some principles of more traditional Kongo belief. Kongo ideas of a fluid connection between the realm of the living and that of the dead, long symbolized by the cross, and Christian considerations of death and regeneration came together in Kongo’s understanding of the crucifix. The crucifix was a powerful symbol in both Kongo’s church and in the way Kongolese thought about the world in which they lived.In many instances the cross, as well as the Christ figure, were cast in open molds. The Christ figure was frequently stylized, its face severely abstracted and hands and feet treated as fan-like forms. Cast crosses allowed secondary praying figures called orants to be placed in relief on the upright portion of the cross or perched on the cross-arm.Female Christ Crucifix FigureKongo peopleLower Congo, DRC19th centuryBrassRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, HO.1973.48.1Obviously intended to be suspended from wooden crosses, rare figures such as this replace the Christ figure with a female figure. Some scholars interpret it as a reference to Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita, an eighteenth century visionary who claimed she was visited by St. Anthony, who took over her body. Her mission to restore the Kongo throne and to re-occupy the capital of Mbanza Kongo led to her arrest in 1706 on charges of heresy and to her burning at the stake. The Antonian movement she founded continued for several decades, but many of the devotees of the movement were enslaved and sent to the Americas.Hybrid Objects, Multiple MeaningsSixteenth and seventeenth-century Kongolese merged older traditions with those introduced by the Portuguese. New ceremonial and religious objects were introduced in ways that allowed them to embody meanings derived from Kongo cosmology and belief. While inspired by European models, swords of honor and crucifixes recalled previously established philosophical, political and religious symbols. They transmitted the Kongo elite’s redefinition of their realm as a modern Christian kingdom.The sign of the cross, present in crucifixes, large wooden crosses in the landscape, or cross-forms cut into the hand-guards of swords, referred simultaneously to the newly introduced Christian iconography and to the older “crossroads” symbol that long before European contact represented the boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead.CrucifixKongo peopleLower Congo, DRC19th centuryWood, brassRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, HO.1955.9.13On occasion, Kongo artists crafted rather unorthodox crucifixes. At first glance the object here seems merely to be an abstracted version of other crucifix figures. Closer examination reveals that the chest and torso are spangled with indentations. Is this indicative of a deliberate association between the Christ figure and a leopard, an important symbol of political and spiritual power usually associated with chiefs?Figure of Saint AnthonyKongo peopleLower Congo, DRC17th–18th centuryCopper alloyRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, HO.1955.9.23In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries European missionaries introduced the cults of the Virgin Mary and Saint Anthony of Padua, which both became very popular. Local artists produced saint figurines in ivory, terracotta, brass and copper alloy. Figures of Saint Anthony were called Toni Malau and usually held the infant Jesus upright on the left hand, while the right hand held a cross. The saint figurines had a loop at the back so they could be worn as pendants. They were used as individual talismans and also for healing. They were brought in contact with wounded or aching parts of the body, which explains the worn surface of many of them.Carved Elephant TuskVili peopleLoango, Congo-Brazzaville19th centuryIvoryRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.1979.1.408Carved by Kongo artists and intended for sale to Europeans, these carved elephant tusks illustrate the Kongo-European exchange. The procession-like reliefs read from the base to the summit. One way to view the effects of Kongo-European contact is through the different examples of clothing. The figures wear hats that resemble the embroidered mpu caps worn by Kongo chiefs. In addition, some figures sport European top hats and bowlers. Some men wear wrappers, but others adopt a range of European-influenced clothing, including jackets (with pockets) and long pants. The reliefs also include images referring to the slave trade. Competition Among ChiefsKongo and its neighboring kingdoms to the north largely disintegrated in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and politics in the nineteenth century was the domain of local or regional chiefs. Chiefs controlled the trade in slaves and agricultural produce between the interior and the Atlantic coast. They organized trade caravans and made others pay a toll at strategic points they occupied along trade routes and rivers.The power of chiefs depended on a range of factors including marital alliances with other groups, membership in therapeutic associations, and the acquisition of chiefly titles. The ritual investiture of a chief required the redistribution of considerable wealth, including various kinds of imported European wares. The competition for prestige led to a flourishing of the arts, as artists were pushed to innovate and provide high quality regalia and objects of daily use.Ceremonial KnifeEuropean, unknown manufacturerCollected in Lower Congo, DRCLate 19th centuryMetal, silverRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.1977.33.1Europeans made special presents to African merchants to gain favorable trade relationships. A remarkable example is this silver-plated ceremonial weapon, fashioned to resemble a Kongo ceremonial knife as they existed in wood, ivory and copper alloy. The object has a European style lion’s head at the end of the handle, and the inscription “Valle Azevedo & C°” referring to a Spanish-Portuguese trading firm operating in the region in the 1880s.Sailing Ship WhistleKongo peopleLoango Coast, Angola or Congo-Brazzaville18th–19th centuryIvory, woodCollection of Marc Felix, FX12 0032Europeans visiting Kongo often commissioned artists to create specialty objects. This curious example of an ivory whistle shows hybrid characteristics that could result from such a commission. The whistle is a type and form that would have been used on sailing vessels to communicate orders. The foreign form suggests that the artist modeled his piece from a similar example, but then added his own artistic flare. Marc Felix has identified the figure’s clothing, consisting of a jacket and cravat, as the dress of an American captain from the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. The figure’s earrings, however, are identical to those worn by the Kongo elites in the eighteenth century. The Kongo sculptor of this object has thus made a hybrid representation, clothing his figure in American dress while adding Kongo-style jewelry to indicate wealth and status. Kongo in the Nineteenth Century With the ending of the slave trade and the development of “legitimate” commerce came a relatively prosperous time in Kongo. Europe’s demand for raw materials such as palm oil and rubber gave African entrepreneurs access to a whole new range of imported luxury items. Such articles were accumulated by wealthy individuals and redistributed during the elaborate rituals of chiefly investiture or during the composition of charms (minkisi). They also served commemorative purposes and adorned the graves of chiefs and successful merchants. Political and economic competition favored the development of the arts and the production of objects that were innovative and of an exceptionally high quality.The Nineteenth-Century “Legitimate Trade”The Atlantic slave trade, begun in the sixteenth century, came to an end in 1866. By that time, Kongo communities along the Atlantic coast and the banks of the Congo and Chiloango Rivers had turned to the trade in palm oil and peanuts, and high-value commodities such as coffee, ivory and rubber. The 1870s saw the establishment of many new trading factories where the African produce was carried. Payment was made in cloth, earthenware, gunpowder, cutlery, guns, spirits and various other European luxury goods. During the first decades of legitimate trade, African entrepreneurs controlled the organization of production and to some extent also dictated the terms of trade.Stoneware Pitcher Marked “AHV”Presumably made in GermanyCollected in Lower Congo, DRC1860s–1880sStonewareRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, HO.1990.3.1Stoneware Pitcher Marked “VA & C° Liverpool”Presumably made in GermanyCollected in Lower Congo, DRC1860s–1880sStonewareRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, HO.1990.3.2Among the European trade articles that were in high demand on the coasts of West Central Africa in the nineteenth century were gray stoneware pitchers and jenever [gin] bottles. The pitchers, nicely decorated with blue floral motifs, were made in Germany for trading firms with business in Africa. Some of these had their name marked on the outside: “AHV” was the Rotterdam-based Afrikaansche Handels Vereeniging, and “VA & C°” referred to the Spanish-Portuguese firm Valle, Azevedo and Company which had its head office in Liverpool. The pitchers were greatly appreciated by Bakongo for their ability to keep water or palm wine clean and fresh. They were also put on the graves of chiefs and successful merchants as signs of their status.Jenever BottleMade in GermanyCollected in Lower Congo, DRCLate 19th centuryGlassRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, HO.2002.27.2European trading firms imported huge quantities of jenever or “Holland gin” in green or brown square glass bottles. The liquor was produced in Holland and in the north of Germany, and the bottles bore either the name of the distiller or the importer. The jenever bottle here bears the name of the distiller C.W. Herwig from Hamburg. Early twentieth-century observers found Kongo graves decorated with large quantities of jenever bottles and also smaller objects. The bottom of the white bowl decorated with green plant motifs was intentionally damaged. Cups and plates on Kongo graves were generally broken in order to “kill” them, so that they, too, could go to the land of the spirits.Chief’s CapeWoyo peopleCabinda, AngolaLate 19th centuryVegetal fiber, raffiaRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.1979.1.308Raffia was used to create items of everyday importance (basic clothing, baskets and mats). But, finer raffia materials were used to show the wealth and prestige of an individual. Finely woven, geometric textiles were displayed near Kongo kings and given as gifts to important visitors. Additionally, shawls such as this were a signal of prestige and part of a chief’s regalia. Such a vestment is depicted on a memorial bust of Ambassador Antonio Manuel who visited the Vatican in 1604.Chief’s HeaddressKongo peopleLower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryRaffia, vegetal fiberRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.34448While kings adopted European styles of dress early on, locally crafted caps remained important markers of status. Woven fiber caps called mpu were embellished with embroidery and pile techniques and featured geometric designs similar to those used for raffia textiles. Many mpu caps have symbolic additions such as leopard claws. Leopards are metaphorical of chief’s political and spiritual power. Chiefs were supposed to be powerful mediators between the world of the living and that of the ancestors.Ceremonial KnifeWoyo peopleLower Congo, DRCLate 19th centuryMetal, woodRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.1952.15.11In the coastal region of Ngoyo and Kakongo, the ultimate symbol of power of a ritually invested chief was the mbele a lulendo, “the knife of power,” also called kiphaba. With a copper or brass blade and the handle in wood or ivory, it was the sign of the chief’s power over life and death. In the nineteenth century, acts of violence were an important attribute of chiefship, at least symbolically, and this idea was frequently expressed in art. Many such knives, however, were merely for ceremonial use, and sometimes they were made of wood or ivory. The motifs designed in the openwork or gouged into the blade include abstract representations of people, houses, plants and shells. They offered a visual vocabulary to the chief, who would interpret them with proverbs according to the rhetorical needs of the moment.Ivory ScepterYombe peopleLower Congo, DRC19th centuryIvory, resin, fatRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.43708This effectively carved ivory scepter portrays a chief holding in his left hand a small tusk probably representing a scepter – a self-reference. In his right hand is a special root, known as munkwisa, the end of which the chief holds between his teeth. The munkwisa plant was thought to be indestructible and its root had a very acid taste. The specific pose of the chief is meant to underscore his exceptional strength and the longevity of his power. The secondary figure below is a bound and gagged victim of the chief’s violent intervention. The portrayal of violence was an important attribute of the chief’s power in the nineteenth century. The upper end may have held “medicines” turning the object into a sort of nkisi, or it may have held buffalo tail hair to serve as a flywhisk.Ivory ScepterWoyo peopleLower Congo, DRC 19th centuryIvoryRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.1979.1.260Intricate geometric patterns fill the top four registers of this scepter – variations of interlace, rosettes and abstracted human faces. The lowest register, left rather plain, is adorned with elegantly worked scallops. Such mastery of geometric decoration has long been demonstrated by Kongo artists in the surface carving of ivory trumpets, the weaving of fine raffia textiles and mats and beautifully created baskets.FlywhiskYombe peopleBoma, Lower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryWood, buffalo tail, brassRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.1971.70.1-1SpoonYombe peopleLower Congo, DRC 20th century WoodCollection of Hyatt and Cici BrownElaborately carved flywhisks and spoons were part of a Yombe chief’s regalia. A buffalo tail flywhisk is an essential symbol of chiefly power. This flywhisk pairs the clasped hands with a pattern of bisected lozenges, signifying the worlds of the living and the dead. Through this iconography, the flywhisk identifies the chief as negotiator between diverse realms. The spoon bears an image of a standing figure with a munkwisa root in his mouth and a severed human head in his left hand. The bitter root is associated with the power of chiefs, who prove their spiritual prowess by chewing on it during investiture ceremonies.Metal Helmet Found on Kongo GraveProbably FrenchCollected in Northern Angola19th centuryBronzeRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.1953.74.156In the early 1950s the Belgian ethnologist Albert Maesen purchased a remarkable bronze helmet in a village in the north of Angola. The helmet was found on the grave of an important nineteenth century Kongo chief, called Ne Longo, who had died in 1860. It was placed on top of an old English cannon that was standing upright. According to local informants, the helmet was of French manufacture.The helmet’s front is decorated with a scaly motif in bas-relief, which may be an imitation of the skin of a pangolin. The addition on top of it probably represents its tail. The back of the helmet shows a bas-relief of a kneeling man surrounded by plants and flowers. The object was presumably taken to Africa to satisfy the desires of African merchants and chiefs to possess extraordinary and bizarre objects.Carved Tusk Made into a StampVili peopleLower Congo, DRC19th centuryIvory, metalRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.1953.26.18This is a small example of a Loango ivory, made from the tip of an elephant’s tusk. A metal stamp has been affixed to its base. The stamp itself appears to be a stylized representation of an eagle. The carving, the figures’ style, and the characteristic spiraling narrative that reads from the base to the top situate this ivory among a corpus of similar examples from West Central Africa. The details depicted here show various aspects of the slave trade. Unlike other examples, this scene does not include references to aspects of European dress or European trade objects and appears to be strictly situated within Kongo. Toby JugMade in EnglandCollected in Zaire (province), Angola19th centuryStonewareRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.1953.74.163Toby Jug HeadKongo peopleLower Congo, DRC19th centuryTerracottaRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.1949.1.18-1European pottery imported in Kongo in the nineteenth century included peculiar forms like the English Toby jug. Europeans traded them for African wares as early as the 1830s. They represent the popular eighteenth-century drinking character Toby Philpot. In Kongo they were put on graves to indicate the prominent status of the deceased as a successful merchant or chief.The Toby jug here is one of the earliest examples found in Lower Congo. It was originally made in a Staffordshire pottery in the 1820s or 1830s. It corresponds to a type called “the soldier,” dressed in a red long coat with yellow buttons, yellow trousers and a tricorn hat. Toby Philpot also inspired Kongo potters to make their own copies as is shown here by an interesting terracotta fragment.InitiationIn Kongo an individual’s success depended greatly on his or her membership in multiple associations, some of which required a process of initiation. Initiation often involved the adoption of a new name, the learning of an esoteric vocabulary and the right to wear the material tokens of membership. Early twentieth-century observers left descriptions of the Khimba and Kimpasi initiation for boys. Girls went through an initiation called Kumbi.The most influential association was Lemba, whose emergence in the coastal regions north of the Congo River was connected to the Atlantic trade. In an increasingly decentralized society, Lemba addressed the contradictions between a prevailing egalitarian ideology shared by free Kongolese and the accumulation of wealth by successful individuals. The initiation involved the composition of a healing nkisi, a marriage ceremony, and the establishment of a strong father-child relationship with the Lemba priest. The ethos of healing, marriage, and paternity worked as an antidote against the envy of others. The multiple stages of initiation also required Lemba initiates to redistribute their wealth periodically.Attributed to the Master of KasadiMayombe, Lower Congo, DRCMask of the Nganga DiphombaEarly 20th centuryWood, skin, hair, white clay, pigmentRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.37966Attributed to the Master of KasadiMayombe, Lower Congo, DRCMother and Child FigureEarly 20th centuryWood, glassRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.24662Some Kongo artists developed highly recognizable personal styles. Their names were seldom recorded but comparative stylistic analysis has identified some of them and given them a new name. Such was the fate of the “Master of Kasadi,” whose signature can be read in a number of distinct stylistic features. The big eyes rimmed with a lenticular relief, the hollow cheeks with prominent cheekbones, the open mouth with the filed teeth and the strong chin reveal the master’s hand. The Master of Kasadi was first discovered as the author of a series of mother and child figures collected between 1911 and 1913. The bearded white mask, which belonged to a nganga of nkisi Diphomba, is one of his creations collected in Kasadi – the village after which he was posthumously named.Figure of a Kneeling ManYombe peopleMayombe, Lower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryWood, glassRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.32390Wood carvers made figures that were particularly fit to be turned into a charm or nkisi by a ritual practitioner or nganga. They left room for the addition of the “nkisi medicines” on the belly and on the head of the figure. Other meaningful clues included the munkwisa root held between the teeth and the scepter or fly whisk in the left hand of the figure, both symbols of the power of a chief. The bright eyes and the lively kneeling pose further contributed to the overall visual impact of the figure as something alive and powerful. This object would have appealed to a nganga but it was collected before it was transformed into a nkisi.Voania Muba (Woyo, d. 1928)Lower Congo, DRCPot with Human Figures Early 20th centuryTerracottaRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.20241-2In a village called Muba, in the region of the old Ngoyo kingdom, a remarkable artist exemplified the emergence of Kongo artists as self-conscious individuals in the early twentieth century. He specialized in figural pottery and his art is preserved in many museums and private collections around the world. He usually mounted one or two standing, sitting, or kneeling human figures on a bowl, modeling them with almond-shaped eyes and a delicate smile, and using incisions to suggest eyebrows and neatly combed hair. He consequently signed his works in block letters, marking his name with single or double lines in the wet clay: VOANIA MUBAHeaddressKongo peopleBoma, Lower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryWood, pigmentRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.17695Boma was a vibrant commercial and political center in the early colonial period, offering opportunities to both European and African entrepreneurs. Kongo artists found new inspiration in the outward show of the colonial state, with its uniforms, gadgets and parades. A skillful artist in Boma made this fancy headdress in wood, inspired by a colonial cap. The sides and the top are embellished with a red snake and a leopard, both important creatures in Kongo mythology. The RMCA collection holds a wooden imitation of a brass instrument most likely from the same artist, with a similar red snake added to it.MinkisiA nkisi (pl. minkisi) is a type of object for which no equivalent word exists in European languages. It is essentially a container for an ancestral spirit and for “medicines” that were selected by a ritual expert during the composition of the nkisi. The container could take many forms, including an anthropomorphic or zoomorphic sculpture. The ancestral spirit took possession of it during the elaborate composition ritual. The selection of the medicines was guided by visual and linguistic metaphors, besides other principles. They were considered essential to the nkisi’s effectiveness as a device for healing or spiritual protection. A nkisi was most often associated with one or several diseases, which it could both inflict and cure. A successful nkisi operator (nganga) had many clients who paid him a fee for his services.Nkisi MedicinesThe power of a nkisi is in its “medicines,” a variety of additions of vegetal, animal or mineral origin. They were carefully selected for their metonymic or metaphorical attributes during the process of the nkisi’s composition.The ritual expert usually included a number of medicines that were understood by most of the people. Other elements were more esoteric and underscored the unique and sophisticated knowledge that he or she possessed of the ways of the nkisi.Besides the items listed below, the basket of nkisi Mambuku Mongo contained four iron nails, including one forged, a fish hook, pieces of raw metal and glass, a snake head, bones, chicken feet, egg shell, cocoons of the Praying Mantis, short sharpened sticks, strings of vegetal fiber with knots and various other types of seeds and shells.Minkisi to Regulate TradeThe enforcement of trade agreements and the protection of the traders’ property rights happened in part through the manipulation of charms, called minkisi (sing. nkisi). Minkisi were thought of as containers for powerful ancestral spirits and some were carved in wood in the form of a tall human being. Mabiala Mandembe, Mangaaka and Kozo were among the powerful minkisi used for sealing trade agreements and hunting down thieves.European merchants noted the effect of an oath passed in front of – or “hammered into” – such minkisi, and they occasionally made use of them as well. In the mid-1870s, Alexandre Delcommune had the “war fetish” of chief Ne Cuco of Boma carried around to several markets in order to find the men who had stolen his goods. He eventually seized the nkisi as booty during a short toll war with the chiefs of Boma in 1878.Anthropomorphic Power Figure, nkisi ManyanguYombe peopleMayombe, Lower Congo, DRCLate 19th centuryWood, iron, vegetal fiber, pigment, resin, glassRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.22485Anthropomorphic Power Figure, nkisi ManyanguYombe peopleMayombe, Lower Congo, DRCLate 19th centuryWood, vegetal fiber, clay, iron, fat, pigment, glass, resinRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.22462In 1915 at the mission station of Kangu, two stunning examples of nkisi Manyangu were collected. Such minkisi of the nkondi type were activated against thieves and witches, and nkisi Manyangu was known to inflict them with lubanzi, a disease described as a stitch in the side, causing difficulty in breathing. A person so attacked had to be treated by the nganga of Manyangu, who could provide the cure and lift Manyangu’s curse, in exchange for a fee.The two minkisi here represent “a married couple.” The male nkisi raises his right arm, which originally held a knife, while the female counterpart, recognizable by the breasts, has her hands firmly planted on the hips. The idea behind “married” minkisi seems to have been that the female could soften, when necessary, the more vigorous powers of the male. Dance Scepter, Thafu MaluanguWoyo peopleBanana, Lower Congo, DRCLate 19th centuryWood, vegetal fiber, nutRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.35045Khimba was a boys’ initiation in Mayombe, Kakongo and Ngoyo. The initiation happened in seclusion in the forest, and could last several months. Under the guidance of a master, the participants learned many things, including the vocabulary of an esoteric Khimba language. At important moments during the initiation, the participants were completely colored white and danced with skirts made of fibers. The dance scepter, called Thafu Maluangu, shows the initiates Matundu and Malanda who lead the group in procession out of the initiation camp. The lower part of the object is wrapped with a string of seed pods. The rattling sound of Thafu Maluangu accompanied the dancing bakhimba when they reappeared in the village.Ivory PendantWoyo peopleCabinda, AngolaLate 19th centuryIvoryRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.1979.1.1022The shape of the crescent hand-held drum was replicated in other objects. Roughly carved versions were attached to objects in order to identify them as a part of Lemba. The crescent shape was also found in pendants worn by Lemba initiates who wished to show their status. They were made of wood, metal or ivory. The ivory pendant here features a crocodile with a fish between its teeth, a metaphoric reference to successful hunting and trading, and to the accumulation of wealth that membership in Lemba facilitated.Ivory pendantSolongo peopleBoma, Lower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryIvoryRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.1953.74.504Local variations in ivory mimic European introduced medals but also turn them into something typically Kongo. The circular disk form, for example, seems to be modeled on European medals, with its raised rim and loop for suspension. The motif, however, is a classic Kongo symbol, a circle surrounding an equal-armed cross. The Maltese cross was a common motif on both Portuguese and Belgian medals, yet the motif in its center looks like another variation on the so-called Kongo cosmogram, a lozenge superimposed on the vertical and horizontal axes within a circle. The leopard claw is a traditional symbol of political power referring to physical force and the king’s power over life and death.Box, Nkobe LembaWoyo peopleBanana, Lower Congo, DRCLate 19th centuryBark, vegetal fiber, fruit, pigment, feathersRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.35191The Lemba cult developed a rich material culture, including prestigious tokens of membership and a distinct iconography. The round nkobe box, made of bark and wood, and often colored red and white, was a central object in Lemba. The box contained the “medicines” assembled during initiation. Their names, forms and juxtaposition worked like a rebus and created statements about Lemba and its members.Lemba BraceletKongo peopleMayombe, Lower Congo, DRC19th centuryBrassRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.1954.60.2Two Figures, Lemba CoupleYombe peopleMayombe, Lower Congo, DRCLate 19th centuryWood, shell, iron, pigment, clayRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.42920The most enduring Lemba object was the bracelet made of brass or other copper alloys. The one here shows the Lemba couple, with the man holding a carved staff and the woman touching her breasts, a symbolic gesture of generosity. Lemba initiates wore the bracelet for the rest of their lives and were buried with it. The Lemba couple was also represented in wood, here sitting on a carved chest used to store raffia currency. The figures are colored white and have “medicines” fixed on the belly – visual references to the empowerment of the Lemba initiation.Handheld Slit DrumWoyo peopleLower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryWoodRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, MO.0.0.35218Bell with Three ClappersYombe PeopleLower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryWoodRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, MO.0.0.33980Nkisi BundleYombe peopleMayombe, Lower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryVegetal fiber, textile, shellRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.22444Another prominent Lemba object was the hand-held crescent-shaped slit drum, the koko. It was most often decorated with a serrated rim and often also with small figures in bas-relief. The shape of the crescent slit drum was an icon of Lemba and often reproduced in crude form. Lemba iconography also included a flower-like design with four, six, or eight petals, often found on the nkobe box and the bracelet, but also on wooden bells. In addition, Lemba had non-figurative nkisi-like objects with spiral shells and crescent forms attached to them.Fiber BasketVili peopleLoango, Congo-BrazzavilleLate 19th centuryVegetal fiberRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.7349-1Fiber BasketVili peopleLoango, Congo-BrazzavilleLate 19th centuryVegetal fiberRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.29075The Kongo tradition of creating highly adorned baskets lasted from the sixteenth century to the beginning of the twentieth century. Finely woven baskets served as containers for clan relics, valuables and objects related to status. Constructed with wood or bark liners to ensure their strength, the exterior is covered with woven natural and dyed raffia and rattan fibers using plainweave or twill work in patterns that dazzle the eye. The richly patterned form proclaims the treasures held within and the wealth of the owner, yet basket motifs also may convey cosmological meanings. The most commonly seen motif, the lozenge, is one of the most profound, as it signifies the human life cycle.Fragment of Bed PostYombe peopleMayombe, Lower Congo, DRCLate 19th centuryWood, pigmentRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.35776In Ngoyo, Kakongo, and Mayombe, when a young girl had reached marriageable age, she was called to enter into the nzo Kumbi. During a period of five to ten months, she received instruction about marriage rights and duties. Her skin was rubbed with a red cosmetic called tukula, a mixture of powder rasped from lukunga wood mixed with palm oil.The nzo Kumbi had a bed with a plaited bottom standing on four poles about five feet high. The sides of the bed were decorated with red and white geometric designs, while the head and footboards had figurative sculpture. The bed post here depicts two young men who both have one hand resting on the shoulder of their future Kumbi brides. The presence of the brides’ maternal uncles and the coins and other attributes refer to the exchange of goods that was part of the marriage agreement.Mask of the Nganga DiphombaYombe peopleMayombe, Lower Congo, DRCLate 19th centuryWood, pigment, clay (kaolin)Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.43573The material attributes of a nkisi included the outfit of the ritual expert (nganga). This outfit consisted of special garments, jewelry, a feathered headdress, and sometimes a wooden mask. The white mask here with striking naturalistic features belonged to the nganga of nkisi Diphomba, known in Mayombe as a diviner. He was consulted in order to discover the hidden causes of someone’s illness or misfortune. During the most dramatic moments of his performance, he would go into a possession trance and communicate with the spirit world in order to disclose the facts.Ndunga MaskWoyo peopleBanana, Lower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryWood, pigmentRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.34579The mask with protruding forehead and red and black lines over the cheeks is a ndunga mask from Ngoyo. In the nineteenth century this region was repeatedly affected by droughts which were thought to be caused by earth spirits who were disturbed because one of their regulations had been violated. Such matters were investigated by the ndunga diviners who would find the culprit and bring him or her to the chief. The bandunga have been described as a sort of “police force” because they seemed to be at the chief’s command. Later they became part of cultural folklore as they performed their masked dances at funeral ceremonies and public feasts.Zoomorphic Power Figure, nkisi MawenzeYombe peopleMayombe, Lower Congo, DRCLate 19th centuryWood, vegetal fiber, metalRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.22451Nkisi Mawenze could take the form of an anthropomorphic statue but also occurred in the form of a dog with a curled tail. In Yombe mythology, the curled tail dog was one of the appearances of lightning, and its bark could be heard as a rattling thunderclap! The form was thus appropriate for a nkisi associated with violence and retribution, the sort capable of inflicting and curing mental disorders and other diseases of the upper part of the body. In the early twentieth century, nkisi Mawenze was held responsible for sleeping sickness, together with half a dozen other minkisi. Sleeping sickness infected thousands of victims in Central Africa at that time, and nkisi Mawenze was part of a tragic attempt to control it.Anthropomorphic Power Figure, nkisi nkondi (presumably nkisi Mangaaka)Yombe peopleMayombe, Lower Congo, DRC19th centuryWood, shell, vegetal fiber, metal, pigment, glassRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.7777With his wide torso, his hands resting on the hips, his large white staring eyes and his mouth opened, nkisi Mangaaka surely looks powerful and ready to attack anyone who displeases him. Wearing the mpu headdress of a chief, with the geometric weaving designs adequately carved in the wood, he represents public authority. The “medicines” that empower him are incorporated in his beard and in the bulge on his belly.Nkisi Mangaaka was a merciless hunter who at the request of a client went after thieves and witches or took revenge upon violators of agreements that had been sealed in front of him. Several minkisi of this type were collected at the end of the nineteenth century along the Chiloango River that was an important trade route connecting the interior with the Atlantic coast.Bottle, nkisi MazioloYombe peopleMayombe, Lower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryGlass, vegetal fiber, glass, fruit, feathers, textileRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.22455Bell Turned into Ritual Object, nkisiYombe peopleLower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryWood, vegetal fiber, glass, ironRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, MO.0.0.41231The range of possible forms for a nkisi was indefinite. Besides the anthropomorphic and zoomorphic forms, many minkisi took the shape of a bag, a basket, a box, a bottle, a pot, a small chest or any other type of container that could hold the “medicines.” The bottle filled with various substances and with other materials added to its surface is nkisi Maziolo, held responsible for dysentery. Ritual experts (banganga) regularly impressed their clients with innovations and unexpected compositions. This is exemplified by the wooden bell turned into a nkisi by the addition of various “medicines” and a mirror affixedMugYombe people Mayombe, Lower Congo, DRC Late 19th centuryTerracottaRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.7658PitcherMboma peopleLower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryTerracottaRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.1953.74.35Ceramics in Kongo society reflect ancient traditions, yet potters have been responsive to changes in taste and economic circumstances throughout history. Ceramics have come to reflect European influence both in form and medium. Gourd-shaped bottles bearing lozenges and serpentine motifs are undoubtedly ancient forms, but the addition of brass tacks and multiple handles show the influence of European imports. The addition of white glass seed beads from Europe on the ornate gourd-shaped vessel, and perhaps its dramatically flared handles, demonstrate Kongo potters’ desire to incorporate precious trade items, once used for currency, and an innovative and attractive form to produce a highly prestigious vessel.BasketYombe peopleMayombe, Lower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryVegetal fiberRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium EO.0.0.35819While baskets made for use in Kongo households are highly functional, they are also exquisitely designed. The shallow basket used for winnowing grain is constructed using the coil technique, as is a lidded basket used for storing small objects. The perfectly aligned coils made from bundled fibers create a subtle spiral pattern, slightly accented by the addition of bands of lighter hues in the cylindrical form. Some scholars have suggested that the spiral motif signifies the path taken into and out of the world of the ancestors and more generally it refers to longevity.Anthropomorphic Power Figure, nkisi MandombeWoyo peopleBanana, Lower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryWood, gourds, vegetal fiber, shells, fruit, nuts, pigment, resin, skinRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.33956Nkisi Mandombe was collected by missionary ethnographer Leo Bittremieux in the coastal region of Banana, on the north bank of the Congo estuary. It shows a human figure covered with different sorts of “medicines” that were selected to evoke, through visual or linguistic metaphor, the characteristics of the nkisi. The medicines were mixed into a paste that was applied on top of the head or they were attached with fine cords to the body. The head also has mirrors pointing in different directions that allowed the nkisi to see and detect witches, wherever they may be or come from.Woyo carved lids communicated domestic issues, usually between husband and wife. Food containers were usually covered with leaves to transport from the preparation area to the place where men ate. If a disgruntled wife wanted to communicate feelings about some family concern or dispute with her spouse, a carved wooden disk could be used to cover the pot, thus presenting the matter to the broader community. Sometimes complicated genre scenes conveyed the message, as is the case in these two lids. Each motif might be associated with a proverb, and the entire scene might suggest a narrative reading as well. Proverb LidWoyo peopleLower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryWoodRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.42871A woman lies in bed in this example while a man, likely her husband, sits at the foot, his chin resting on crossed arms. Next to the bed another figure sits cross-legged, facing the woman. The scene and its icons could be interpreted variously. It could conceivably be a healing scene with the fourth figure behind the healer displaying a mourning gesture. The presence of the turtle, which lives on land and in the water, and is a mediator between the world of the living and the dead, warns that something serious is going on.Proverb LidWoyo peopleLower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryWoodRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.37125Here a man sits on a mat, his meal next to him. Turning to his wife, he points to the plate. The reproach may have to do with the quality of food prepared. While such communication through carved lids was an important part of marital communication among the Woyo in the nineteenth century, it had for the most part disappeared by the middle of the twentieth century.Anthropomorphic Power Figure, nkisi ndudaKongo peopleBanana, Lower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryWood, glass, feathers, resin, ironRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.16674Many minkisi served to protect their owners against the malevolent actions of witches. They were said to belong to the nduda category, generally smaller sized but merciless witch hunters. They were kept in the house to provide protection against nightly attacks. The little tubes sticking out of the bulges on the arms of the figure are “night guns” to shoot at witches. The metaphor was pushed to surreal proportions: in the morning the owner would point out the bullets in his porch that had been fired during the night! The feathers of a bird of prey sticking out of the figure’s headdress also indicate the nkisi’s effectiveness as a witch hunter.Basket, nkisi Mambuku MongoYombe peopleMayombe, Lower Congo, DRCLate 19th centuryWood, shell, vegetal fiber, seed, nut, stone, feathersRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.22472Mambuku Mongo was a nkisi that existed in both anthropomorphic and non-figurative forms. Here is a basket filled with the medicines that empower the nkisi. Mambuko Mongo was essentially a nkisi for divination although it could also afflict someone with headaches or madness. The performance of the diviner included singing and dancing, the shaking of rattles, and sniffing (konga) at the nkisi in order to discover the cause of an illness or misfortune. Mambuku Mongo was often operated by women and the nkisi remained in use at least until the 1940s.Kongo Musical InstrumentsSeveral types of Kongo musical instruments are of considerable age and were mentioned by early visitors to the region. Their appearance in an early seventeenth-century encyclopedia of musical instruments by German composer and theorist Michael Praetorius, attests to the early presence of Kongo instruments in European collections. A broad variety, many still popular in the region, includes wind instruments such as trumpets, flutes and whistles; strings such as the pluriarc; numerous percussion instruments – various drums, xylophones, bells, rattles and gongs; and plucked instruments like the sanza or lamellophone.Whistle (Human Figures)Woyo peopleLower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryWood, hornRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, MO.1951.50.190-1Whistles made of small antelope horns ornamented with tiny sculptural forms were used by hunters to signal each other during the hunt, but they were believed to have mystical powers as well. They could charm prey and thus control their movements. Diviners used whistles in ceremonies to gain the attention of assisting spirits, especially for healing.LamellophoneSolongo peopleLower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryWood, bead, ironRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, MO.1953.74.551The ubiquitous lamellophone consists of metal or split-cane tongues attached to a sound chamber. One end of each is held in position by a wire or bar to allow the free end to be plucked, usually with the thumbs. The result is a vibrating tone. DrumKongo peopleLower Congo, DRCLate 19th centuryWood, leather, pigmentRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, MO.0.0.3400Ngoma is a generic name for drums in most of Central Africa. Kongo ngoma drums are crafted in a variety of shapes – cylindrical, chalice-shaped, or supported by figural sculpture. The skin membrane is tacked to the body. This example is an unpretentious cylinder, but its surface is covered with geometric and colored patterns.Ngoma is played in an orchestra consisting of three to four drums for festivities, for entertainment or at weddings, to announce a death, and accompany funeral ritual. A spirit was thought to reside inside the drum and to represent an ancestral voice that responded to crises, thus playing a role in the communication between the two worlds.Long Drum with SupportKongo peopleLower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryWood, skin, pigmentRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium MO.0.0.35998 (drum) and MO.0.0.6558 (support)The ndungu is an impressive long and narrow drum. This example is provided with a carved drum support (dikalu di ndungu) that shows four dancing human figures. Ndungu drums are usually played in pairs, one referred to as the ngudi (the mother, with a lower tone) and the mwana (the child, a higher tone). While their primary use is for dancing, they perform in ritual, public events and political occasions.Decoration of Kongo GravesIn the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the increasing economic and political competition around important trade centers, like Boma, and in parts of Mayombe favored innovation in the rituals of burial and the decoration of graves. Graves were adorned with stoneware pitchers, glass bottles, figurative jugs and other status symbols. In addition, artists were commissioned to make anthropomorphic figures in stone or wood. Graves were also decorated with beautifully woven mats, and printed textiles imported from Europe.Initially graves were protected by shelters made of banana leaves but these were gradually replaced by true monuments made of bricks and cement, on which the name of the deceased was painted. Figures of humans continued to adorn such graves, as did additional creatures like lizards and turtles, all made in cement and painted with bright colors.Wooden Grave FigureYombe peopleMayombe, Lower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryWood, pigmentRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.1953.74.1330Colorful wooden figures were seen on graves in Mayombe in the first decade of the twentieth century. Most often they show a man or a woman holding a particular object. This object could be a musical instrument, a jenever bottle, or a cup. Some figures were holding an umbrella, while others were protected from the rain by a shelter made of wood and leaves of the banana tree.The male figure with European style jacket, military helmet and medal holds in his hands a bottle and a glass that refer to the imported liquor that Europeans offered in exchange for African products. The circular medal around his neck is a sign and symbol of his alliance with the colonial state, which granted him new rights and privileges but also subjected him to a number of duties.Wooden Grave FigureYombe peopleMayombe, Lower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryWood, pigment, glassRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.1979.23.The female figure wears a necklace and has scarifications reproduced in bas-relief all over the upper part of her chest and her back. She pours out of a four-sided jenever bottle. Thousands of bottles of this type were imported in the nineteenth century and used to decorate graves. This figure holds an identifiable object of European import, a jug produced in Westerwald, in Germany. The type often had the inscription “GR,” referring to one of the several English kings named George in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Kongo were particularly fond of the Westerwald jugs and used them for a variety of purposes.Stone grave sculpture, ntadiMboma peopleLower Congo, DRCLate 19th centurySteatiteRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.1955.45.6At the end of the nineteenth century in the region of Boma, Kongo artists made anthropomorphic statues in soft stone, to be put on the graves of important members of the community. They were called mintadi (sing. ntadi, stone) and generally measured about fifteen inches high. They were not portraits of the deceased but represented particular abilities or traits that were considered remarkable or prestigious. Literacy was a new skill that commanded great respect and this explains the male figure holding a board or piece of paper on which an indecipherable “text” is incised. The other ntadi wears a necklace and chief’s hat, with leopard claws carved in stone. This type has been described as “the thinker,” with a wink at the French modern sculptor Auguste Rodin.Woven MatKongo peopleBoma, Lower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryVegetal fiberRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.29225The raffia mats used to wrap corpses and those displayed on graves in late 19th and early 20th century Kongo feature a variety of designs. Some were figurative, while others used variations of the interwoven geometric patterns. Complex geometric patterns have been used in all mediums of Kongo art since at least the early sixteenth century. These patterns may function as abstract expressions of ideas about regeneration that are part of Kongo cosmology, but most likely refer to a historical Kongo aesthetic related to ideas of status. Woven MatKongo peopleLuvituku, Lower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryVegetal fiberRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.29259The figurative motifs on this mat relate to Kongo concepts of power and the afterlife. The leopard was an important symbol of power, and leopard skins and teeth were an integral part of a chief’s regalia. The portrayal of leopards and bottles had a spiritual dimension as well. The chief was equated to the leopard, a leader in the land of the dead, and bottles could be used as containers for nkisi spirits. The bottle types on this mat, however, also evoke the successful participation of the deceased in the Atlantic trade.Woven MatKongo peopleLower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryVegetal fiberRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.29088Woven raffia mats were used for funerary purposes. Mats served as wrappings for the body in preparation for burial, and they were displayed on graves in commemoration of the deceased. The number and quality of the mats used in the burial indicated the deceased’s status. The addition of the dancing figures on this mat indicates the funerary ceremonies that took place upon the death of important individuals.Terracotta Grave Urn, diboondoKongo peopleBoma, Lower Congo, DRC19th centuryTerracottaRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.1973.62.1Hollow terracotta cylinders called maboondo (sing. diboondo) adorned graves of important individuals around Boma and in Mayombe. Acting as memorials they demonstrated the wealth of the deceased. Their average size is about sixteen inches high, eight inches in diameter. The exterior of the largest diboondo here is typical. Raised bands divide it into richly decorated registers with openings and crisply incised geometric patterns reminiscent of textile or basketry motifs. Some maboondo had human figures applied, raised in relief, cut into the sides or placed on lids. Here, the figures seem to move through the openings in the surface.Basket Kongo peopleBanana, Lower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryVegetal fiberRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.1989-2Kongo coiled basket forms and techniques are almost identical to those of African Americans in the Sea Islands of Georgia and South Carolina, as seen in these two stepped lid baskets. The Gullah people of the Sea Islands, who have both Kongo and other African ancestors, have produced coiled grass baskets since the eighteenth century. For the Kongo, the coiled form may refer to the spiral, a Kongo symbol for the connection of the living to the world of the ancestors. The tiered form of the lid may symbolize three key points in life: birth, adulthood and death.The Atlantic Slave Trade and Kongo CultureKongo culture was transmitted to the United States as a result of the transatlantic slave trade, which began in 1619 and ended two and a half centuries later, in the 1860s. In this period, an estimated 92,000 enslaved individuals were carried from West Central Africa to mainland North America, mostly by British and American slavers. The overwhelming majority arrived between 1720 and 1808, when their labor supported the growth of tobacco in the Chesapeake, and the expansion of rice, indigo and cotton plantations in the Carolinas and Georgia.In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Kongo channeled slaves from the interior of the continent to the coast and sold few of its own subjects into the Atlantic slave trade. This drastically changed in the eighteenth century as the political instability of the kingdom made the lives of freeborn Kongolese increasingly vulnerable. Political opponents enslaved each other’s followers and people found guilty of theft, adultery or witchcraft were frequently sold into slavery.Kongo Influence in African-American ArtsKongo people who came to America via the Middle Passage plied their skills as artists — metal smiths, woodworkers, ceramists, basket makers, dancers and musicians — and passed on their knowledge to their descendants. Early African American art works in the United States that demonstrate Kongo aesthetics, beliefs and techniques include ceramic vessels with faces sculpted in the mid-nineteenth century, canes from the post-Civil War era, and coiled grass baskets that originated in the eighteenth century. Yards and cemeteries across the southeastern United States reflect Kongo culture and artistic practice.Objects, music and performance that were used to manipulate spiritual forces in Kongo, were creolized in the United States, and are seen in art forms associated with practices of conjuration, in Voodoo derived from Haitian Vodou, and in Palo Mayombe from Cuba. Many of these Kongo-inspired arts have adapted and changed but are still thriving in America today.African-American CanesFinely carved African-American canes are prestigious and protective accoutrements. In both respects they emulate Kongo chiefly staffs and have similar iconography. African-American canes often feature images of reptiles such as lizards and alligators, and other animals that the Kongo identify as inhabiting spiritual manding figures on the finials correspond to Kongo staffs depicting leaders who control spirit forces. African-American cane makers embed nails, tacks, rhinestones, organic materials and other objects in the canes as means of enhancing and engaging spiritual powers, just as Kongo staffs are sometimes studded with metal bosses, wrapped with wire or fibers.Spiritual ObjectsHoodoo, conjure and rootwork are all terms applied to various African American folk practices developed from blending beliefs and customs from different African, Native American and European traditions. Voudou as practiced in New Orleans, on the other hand, was a New World Afro-Catholic religion with a structured theology, a pantheon of deities, saints and ancestors, a priesthood and a congregation of believers who met for regular worship ceremonies. In addition to these American variations, Kongo-related practices from the Caribbean such as Haitian Vodou and Palo Monte Mayombe, a Kongo-based religion formed in Cuba, are now firmly rooted in Miami and elsewhere in the United States.In all of these religions assemblages of various materials are effective in calling the attention of ancestral spirits and other spiritual beings and beseeching them to solve problems. Such tools combined animal, plant, and human-made materials. These customs can be linked to the Kongo practice of composing minkisi, in which substances are added to enhance the efficacy of the object.Vodou packet for Damballah (paket kongo)Haitian-Floridian2012Cloth, glass, unidentified substancesCollection of Robin PoynorBag, nkisi Mbumba MbondoYombe peopleMayombe, Lower Congo, DRCEarly 20th centuryVegetal fiber, metal, beads, feathersRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.22435-4Power objects were ubiquitous in Kongo practice. Ritual experts created containers to hold “medicines” to entice a spirit presence into the accumulation. In addition to impressive anthropomorphic and zoomorphic forms, many minkisi were bags, baskets, boxes, bottles, pots, small chests or other types of containers.As Kongo culture blended with other cultures across the Atlantic, various nkisi–like forms developed, ranging from the caches under the floors of colonial mansions or cabins, to bundles used in “hoodoo” in African American folk culture and objects used in Afro-Caribbean religions such as Vodou and Palo Mayombe.Colonoware Vessel Fragment with Dogtooth Motif African American Dean Hall Plantation, South Carolina, Post-1820 EarthenwareOn Loan from the DuPont Company Collection from their Cooper River site, Moncks Corner, South Carolina, 40322:3:21Cooking potKongo peopleLower Congo, DRC Early 20th centuryTerracottaRoyal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, EO.0.0.5033This elegant and functional Kongo carinated vessel was made for everyday use in preparing and cooking food. The zigzag design inscribed on the shoulder symbolizes a serpent, which is a reference to the ancestors who mediate between the earthly world of the living and the world of ancestors and spirits. A similar motif is inscribed on a fragment of a pot that was excavated from the site of Dean Hall Plantation in South Carolina. It is possible that a Kongo ceramist made this pot, considering that a large number of Kongos were brought to this area of South Carolina during the transatlantic slave trade.Archaeology in AmericaFor several decades archaeologists examining sites where enslaved Africans and their descendants have worked and lived, have determined new ways to interpret materials left behind. A number of sites demonstrate purposeful placement of materials beneath floors in efforts to control forces that might make a difference in the lives of those who lived or worked there. Such deposits were placed in the mansions of wealthy Europeans in colonial Annapolis as well as in modest cabins where Africans or their descendants lived. They have been discovered in the Chesapeake area, the Lowcountry of South Carolina, and as far west as Texas.CacheCharles Carroll House excavation, Annapolis, Maryland1790–1800Pearlware, stone, pins, quartz, bone disksCharles Carroll House CollectionIn the Charles Carroll House, a bundle was buried in the late 18th century in the room where an enslaved African woman lived. Containing a dozen rock crystals, polished pebbles, white disks, and common pins, the bundle had been covered by a bowl base. Such contents compare well with the types of ingredients used to create minkisi in the Kongo region. The discovery of the bundle led to a search for similar remains of Central African religious practices in Annapolis, where at least ten other sites dating from 1720 to 1920 have been discovered.CacheJames Brice House excavation, Annapolis, Maryland1860–1900Various materials (porcelain doll, buttons, bone, shell)Historic Annapolis Foundation?Materials placed under the floor in a kitchen in the Brice House suggest intentional positioning to align the accumulations with the cardinal points. This created a ritual space not unlike those the Kongo called dikenga or diyowa. The northern deposit in the Brice House contained, among other objects, doll parts, and the southern had feathers. An accumulation to the east contained a pierced coin, while the place where the western deposit would have lain had been destroyed during a renovation. The point of intersection revealed several caches buried over time, containing a small bottle, shells, buttons, matchsticks, a Civil War Union button, a holster boss, over fifty glass buttons and beads, scraps of red fabric, a root ball, polished black stones, and three coins dating from 1870-1900.Jeweled Rosary with Two MedalsNew Orleans, Louisiana18th centuryMetal, glass, woodState of LouisianaMedallionNew Orleans, Louisiana18th centuryMetal, glassState of LouisianaNew Orleans’s first burial ground was excavated in 1984. The most notable burial was that of a man who was likely born in Africa and sent to Louisiana in his youth. Two of his lower incisors bear decorative notching not unlike that in Kongo. Great care taken in his burial suggests he was a man of position. A jewel-set rosary was wrapped around his hands, two saint medals attached to it. A metal and glass medallion lay nearby. The medals represent St. Andrew and St. Camillus of Lellis, patron of doctors and nurses. St. Christopher Medal (replica)Fort Mose, St. Augustine, Floridan.d. (reproduction, 2013)Silver alloyOn Loan from the Frederick E. Williams Irrevocable TrustKongos were among those who lived at Fort Mose, an African fortification guarding the north side of St. Augustine. A medal was discovered on the site, which on the front has an image of St. Christopher carrying the infant Jesus. A navigator’s compass is on the back. St. Christopher may have been an apt patron for Africans who crossed swamps and estuaries to get to Catholic Florida from British Carolina. The compass may have been read as a familiar symbol, presenting overlapping crosses that had cosmological meaning for Kongolese.Kongo Influence on African American MusicThe music and dance traditions that Kongo people brought with them during the transatlantic slave trade have formed the core of many African American performance genres. Areas in the southeastern United States, particularly New Orleans and the Lowcountry of South Carolina and Georgia, were crucibles for blending Kongo rhythms with other African and European musical forms.During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in New Orleans’ Congo Square, people of Kongo heritage used prototypes of musical instruments from their homeland to accompany their songs, singing styles and dances. Those cultural practices including specific rhythmic patterns would go on to inform jazz music as well as the ring shouts of the Lowcountry.Kongo-derived dances also influenced dance forms including the Charleston, patting juba, hambone, second-line, shake babe, shimmy, tango and the stepping traditions of Greek fraternities and sororities. These and other Kongo-derived art forms were quintessential in shaping both African American culture and American culture as a whole.Coiled Baskets of South Carolina and GeorgiaThe Gullah people of the Sea Islands of Georgia and South Carolina create coiled grass baskets that clearly reflect their African origins. The coiled technique of sewing bundles of grasses together in a continuous coil came with West and Central Africans brought to America, primarily as workers on rice plantations.As early as the eighteenth century, the Gullah made baskets for fanning rice, carrying foodstuffs and utensils, and for storage. After the late nineteenth century, demand for agrarian baskets waned, but the art of basket making was preserved at the Penn Center on St. Helena Island, South Carolina.Since the early twentieth century, baskets have been sold commercially and basket makers have competed for greater visibility in the market by introducing new techniques, materials and designs. This intensive innovation has culminated in the recognition of Gullah basket makers’ artistry both nationally and internationally.Vegetable BasketSouth Carolina20th centuryBulrush, saw palmettoCharleston MuseumEarly Gullah baskets made for utilitarian purposes included workbaskets used in the home, as well as baskets for bringing in the harvest. Rice was the most important early crop in the Lowcountry, and wide, flat fanner baskets were indispensable for processing the crop. Most fanners were not embellished, thus the fanner with a delicate ring foot may have served another purpose. Steep sided baskets were used for hauling vegetables, flowers and utensils, and carried as a head-load. Cylindrical lidded baskets were used for sewing supplies or storing small items. Early baskets were made primarily from bulrush and other grasses bound with palm strips.Elizabeth F. KinlawAmerican, born 1951 “In and Out” Basket2012Bulrush, sweetgrass, longleaf pine needle, palmettoSamuel P. Harn Museum of Art: Museum purchase with funds provided by The David A. Cofrin Acquisition EndowmentAfter three centuries of producing coiled grass baskets, some based on Kongo forms, Gullah basket makers began to add new materials, techniques and shapes to their repertoire. Sweetgrass and bulrush are the main fibers, but the introduction of longleaf pine needles in the 20th century added more color and textural variation. The large stepped-lid basket and the “In and Out” basket are adaptations of multi-tiered Kongo baskets. The sewing basket or pocketbook basket with its handles, a clasp and decorative knots and patterns, is an elaborate version of a popular form Lowcountry basket makers invented in the late 20th century.Face VesselBath, Edgefield, South CarolinaMid-1800sAlkaline-glazed stoneware On Loan from the Estate of Mary Elizabeth Sinnott, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center 324314The first description of face vessels as the creations of African American potters came from a pottery owner in Edgefield, South Carolina in 1862. Earlier, in 1858, a Kongo man named Tahro had been brought to Georgia aboard the illegal slave vessel the Wanderer. Eventually Tahro, renamed as Romeo, came to Edgefield. It is likely that he worked in the Palmetto Fire Brick Works near Bath, a pottery where he may have produced face vessels inspired by Kongo figurative sculptures. The shape of the vessels is similar to a Kongo water jug called mvungu. It is possible that face vessels functioned as Kongo medicine containers, or minkisi. Reportedly, they were placed on graves, mirroring the Kongo tradition of marking graves with figurated wares.This face vessel is one of the rare examples with writing. The inscription of “Joe Banford” on the top may refer to the person depicted or for whom it was made.Bottle for Vodou Spirit, DamballahHaitian-Floridian 2012 Cloth, glass, unidentified substances Samuel P Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gift of Robin Poynor2013.30Vodou Medicine Packet (paket kongo)Haitian-Floridian20th centuryCloth, feathers, sequins, unidentified substancesHistoryMiami Museum2005.06.001 Historical links can be demonstrated by objects imported from Haiti to be sold in botanicas in Miami. The bottle as nkisi can be seen as strikingly Kongo. In Vodou, such bottles are designated for specific spirits. The serpent moving up the bottle and the colors indicate that this example is for Damballah, a Fon deity. Each bottle can be accompanied by a bound package made of cloth, ribbons and enclosed materials, which can also be seen as a separate nkisi and referred to as a paket kongo, recognizing its Kongo roots. Although the word Vodou derives from the Fon word for deity, vodun, it is a syncretic religion with Fon, Ewe, Yoruba, Kongo and European Catholic contributions. The blending of Roman Catholic Christianity and Kongo religious traditions that took place in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Kongo was carried across the Atlantic and absorbed into Vodou as it developed in eighteenth-century Saint-Domingue and independent Haiti.Sacred Vessel for Palo Mayombe, prenda or ngangaCuban-Floridian20th century Iron, wood, medicinal substances HistoryMiami Museum1987.024Practitioners of Palo Monte, the Cuban variation of Kongo religion, acknowledge a High God, Nzambi. But the spirits of the dead and other spirits are called upon. Objects containing power-infused materials are placed in special containers, nganga, the focus of the initiate’s practice. Each spirit is associated with that sacred object in which sacred earth, sticks, a human skull, bones and other objects were placed. The individual develops a relationship with the spirit through carefully tending the container, accumulating power through caring for the many objects placed in it over time.Different spirits have different types of ngangas. The nganga for Sarabanda, the spirit associated with iron and metal, is fashioned from an iron pot with three legs, which is eventually filled with sticks, a skull, bones, railroad spikes and other powerful materials and substances. Although Sarabanda is the spirit of work and strength, he is also associated with destruction and accidents.Offering Pot for Palo Mayombe, tinajaCuban-Floridian20th century Ceramic, medicinal substancesHistoryMiami Museum1987.024Palo spirits use distinctive types of ngangas. That for Baluande, a spirit associated with water and fertility, is a clay pot. That for Chola Wengue, the spirit of rivers, wealth, seduction and pleasures and the protector of women, is also made of clay. The pot, called a tinaja, is colored, each spirit requiring a different hue. The container here is likely for Chola Wengue, whose nganga is yellow.African American Graves and Commemorative ObjectsAfrican Americans have commemorated deceased family members using a diverse array of found and constructed objects placed on graves or kept in the home. Graves are frequently adorned with seashells, personal objects such as clocks, lamps, glass bottles, figurines, crockery and materials related to the deceased’s faith or occupation.Assembling objects on graves is a legacy of the Kongo, whose chiefs and elite members of society had elaborate graves that were covered with personal objects, such as ceramic vessels, that bore their last connections with life. The Kongo concept of the grave as a site of passage and contact for ancestral spirits is reflected in African American graves and commemorative objects such as memory jars. Mirrors or other shiny objects placed atop graves or attached to the vessels compare to the Kongo use of shiny objects to evoke the spirit of the deceased, so that he or she might provide guidance to the living. Seashells allude to passage to the realm of the ancestors below the water and symbolize memorative Object for Grave Georgia20th centuryWood, glass, paint, floral materialsOn Loan from a private collectionThis African American grave adornment from Georgia has several elements that link it to Kongo funerary practices. The white interior suggests the whiteness Kongos associate with the ancestral realm, mpemba. The cross made from twisted tree branches is Christian inspired, but the encircled cross with each arm accentuated by a rosette mimics the Kongo dikenga, a cruciform symbol which marks the four points of passage of human life from birth to adulthood to death, and the afterlife. The painted silver ends of the cross, like other shiny objects placed on graves, recall the Kongo practice of embedding shiny objects inside medicine bundles to invoke ancestral spiritual presence and power.Memory JarAmerican20th centuryHand-built clay with encrusted shards and found objectsOn Loan from the High Museum of Art, Museum Purchase with funds from the Decorative Arts Acquisition Trust, 1997.37Memory JarAmericanEarly 20th centuryCeramic bottle, plaster, found objectsOn Loan from Renée StoutIn Georgia, an 1880 report of a clay jar covered with items associated with the deceased, then placed on a grave, was the first documentation of African American use of so-called memory jars as grave adornments. The creation and use of memory jars is rooted in the Kongo funerary practice of placing ceramic vessels and items used by the deceased on gravesites. The two jars displayed here, coated with plaster and embedded with seashells, ceramics, glass and other objects, demonstrate the linkage to Kongo displays. One jar also bears an inscription To The Emmett Cole/Funeral Home. /Presented By./B.Y.M.B’S of/North Broad Baptist/ Church./ Rome, Georgia, suggesting it belonged to one of the church’s congregants.Kongo and Contemporary ArtMany artists presently working in Africa, South America, the Caribbean and North America mine Kongo history, philosophy, religion, and iconography to create new art. They may be attracted to Kongo culture because they share its heritage, identify with the territory as an ancestral homeland or think of it as part of their national identity. Others look to African art in general for inspiration, finding suitable forms or fitting iconography in Kongo sources. Each form of appropriation is complex and may be traced to the early period of colonialism when African material culture was introduced into the West.Five artists in the exhibition represent ways in which Kongo influence is manifested in contemporary art. They are Renée Stout (American), Steve Bandoma (Congolese), José Bedia (Cuban, lives in America), Radcliffe Bailey (American), and Edouard Duval-Carrié (Haitian).José Bedia (Cuban, lives in Miami, born 1959)Piango Piango Llega Lejos (Step by Step You Can Go Far) ,2000Acrylic stain and oil pastel on canvasAckland Art Museum, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ackland Fund 2001.2Bedia depicts a human figure morphing into a turtle, the horizontal bands on its undershell filled with linear drawings suggestive of firmas. Many elements important to Palo are indicated – the anvil, the nganga, the knife. The circular form of the undershell filled with such symbolic images is suggestive of the cauldron itself. Color spots on the outlines of the bodies suggest glowing stars in a constellation. One turtle-like body seems to be in our plane, the other as if seen beneath water. Is this suggestive of one in our world and the other beneath the kalunga line, which separated our space from the spirit world?Edouard Duval-Carrié (Haitian, lives in Miami, born 1954)La Traversée (The Crossing), 1996Oil on canvas in artist’s frame, Bass Museum, Gift of Sanford A. RubensteinDuval-Carrié’s La traversée is from "Milocan ou la migration des esprits," a series in which he follows the migrations of spirits through forests and across water from Africa to Haiti and to the United States. Here the lwa are packed tightly into the boat, crossing the waters of the Middle Passage. The water-colored spirit at the prow is Simbi, the water spirit, whose presence is known not only in Kongo and Haiti, but also in the Lowcountry of South Carolina and Georgia. The question mark on his ear may indicate the uncertain course and destination of the spirits on their way across the Atlantic.Renée Stout (American, born 1958)Self-Portrait #2 (Self-Portrait as Inkisi), 2008Metal, fabric, glass and organic materials, Collection of the artistMany of Renée Stout’s works are inspired by Kongo minkisi, which embody and contain diverse sources of spiritual power. In Self-Portrait #2 (Self-Portrait as Inkisi) a denture brace of a departed elder friend is suspended from a metal horse’s bit to evoke the power of an ancestral “voice” and link it to the power to harness tremendous spiritual forces. Multicultural roots of the blues infuse the work as well. Koko Taylor’s “I’m a Woman,” became Stout’s theme song for her self-portrait, evocative of her conjure woman alter ego, Fatima Mayfield. Stout recounts, “as I listened to the song, it seemed that the woman herself was a powerful force to be reckoned with, like an inkisi . . . I ran with that vision and created a kind of power object, that when viewed from certain angles, evokes the abstracted form of a woman.”Renée Stout (American, born 1958)Master of the Universe, 2011-12Found objects (Victorian era clock with figure, glass top table) wood, glass, bronze, silk, organic materials, rhinestones, glass beads, mirror, paint; Collection of the artist and Hemphill Fine ArtsIn Master of the Universe, Stout interprets the nkisi as the embodiment of the complex power relationship between master and slave. A Victorian clock representing a slave balances two bundles of medicines Stout has created, and she has also filled the empty cavity once holding the clock with mystical substances. The figure stands on a glass-topped table filled with medicines – including High John the Conqueror root, embellished with gold, silver and rhinestones – configured inside a cross form that can be read as the crossroads, a spiritually charged site in African and African American cultures. It is also a powerful Kongo cosmological symbol for the cycle of life, death and rebirth. Stout has fitted out the slave figure as a nkisi, fortified by his power as a mediator between the world of the ancestors and the living, and thus master over both worlds.Steve Bandoma (Congolese, born 1981)Trésor Oublié (Forgotten Treasure), 2011Watercolor/mixed media on paper, Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art: Museum purchase, funds provided by the David A. Cofrin Acquisition Endowment, 2012.61.1Bandoma interrogates postcolonial politics focusing on issues such as race, religion, fashion and consumerism. In his Lost Tribe series, he has chosen the Kongo nkisi as a monolithic symbol of African traditional culture. Replacing blades inserted into the traditional nkisi nkondi with cut-out arms from fashion magazines, he instigates a humorous dialogue about the impact of Western culture with its new technologies and excesses – of images, desires and affluence. As we see in Forgotten Treasure, the monumental nkisi – a symbol of Kongo heritage conflated with African heritage – is toppled from its base, marked with dates of the colonial era. We are shown what has been destroyed and lost, but not what lies ahead for the Congolese people or for Africans more generally.Steve Bandoma (Congolese, born 1981)Acculturation, 2011Watercolor, ink and paper collage, Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art: Museum purchase, funds provided by the David A. Cofrin Acquisition Endowment 2012.61.2In Acculturation, a Kongo nkisi is pierced by the cut-out arms of models from fashion magazines instead of blades or nails of a nkisi nkondi. It waves a broken liquor bottle, rather than the spear of a nkisi, and its abdominal cavity is filled with a television color bar in place of a nkisi’s medicines. Bandoma’s nkisi appears as a spirit who is made more aggressive by Western media, who seeks acculturation through the subjugation of all people to Western consumerism. Alternately, this nkisi, as a metaphor for Congolese, Africans and all people, is a victim of excessive materialism.Radcliffe Bailey (American, born 1968)Returnal, 2008Mixed media, Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art: Museum purchase, funds provided by the Ruth P. Phillips Endowment, with additional funds provided by the Caroline Julier and James G. Richardson Acquisition Fund. 2013.44Bailey refers to his assemblages of images and objects contained in box-like frames as “medicine cabinets” and likens them to Kongo healing objects, minkisi. Returnal and other “medicine cabinets” attempt to reconcile history, personal memory and collective memory as an act of healing. In Returnal, models of sailing ships, photographs of Central African sculpted figures, and replicated flags of the Black Star Line remind us of the history of Africans and their descendants crossing the Atlantic. The circuitous voyage from Africa to America and back again also suggests the Kongo concept of the cosmic journey from birth to death and rebirth. As a mark of his quest of personal history, Bailey transcribes a series of letters taken from one of his DNA sequences identifying his African heritage. The central photograph of an unidentified man is an homage to his and all African American ancestors and recalls the Kongo belief in the continued presence and power of ancestors. ................
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