visions of africa
visions of africa
Baga
€ 35.00 | $ 39.95 | Can. $ 44.95 | £ 27.95
Marie Yvonne Curtis Marie Yvonne Curtis
The Baga, along with the Nalu and the Landuma, are a small rice-growing community living along the coast of Guinea, in West Africa. They became famous following the discovery of their extraordinary sculptures towards the end of the nineteenth century. Nowadays, the art of the Baga is admired in the public and private collections. Their works consist mainly of different types of wooden masks and statues of various sizes, as well as wonderful percussion instruments, chiefs’ seats, and other skilfully carved utilitarian objects. All these objects were once created and used as important features in their ritual behavior based on the manifestation of their divinities, ancestor worship, rites of passage, secret brotherhoods, and the performance of important social ceremonies like weddings, funerals, and harvesting. Influenced by colonization and newly introduced religions and at the same time finding inspiration in traditional myths and legends, sculptors included entirely new works, like the figures of colonists standing on horseback or riding birds, the many different kinds of female busts representing “Mami Wata,” the sea goddess, winged figures, animals from their tales and legends, and the heroic founders of their villages.
Baga