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West Africa

Deprived of their costumes, adornments, torchlight and rhythmic movements, the "masks" are no longer what they were when they danced in their original context; in the museum they become mere fragments. But they escape from their dry ethnic classification to conjure up some of the great cults of sub-Saharan Africa which have existed alongside Islam since the eleventh century.

Sculpting the Invisible to Make It Tangible

Like the carved masks, the anthropomorphic statues of the great Baule country evoke invisible powers, divinities and the spirits of nature, which influence human life. Other spiritual beings, such as the ancestors, never take on a human appearance.

In the blolo, a universe parallel to the world of the living, beings are joined to Baule men and women in an indissoluble marriage that takes precedence over their earthly unions. These "mystic spouses" are represented by statuettes with idealised features, which are showered with presents and attentions in the hope of satisfying the blolo bla (blolo woman) or the blolo bian (blolo man) and escaping their jealousy.