Content Description

The collection of handmade artifacts represents tradition pieces of tribal life from Western, Central, and Eastern Africa. All the pieces are made of wood, though the Mahongwe reliquary has brass sheets and wires over a wooden core. The age of each piece is uncertain, however, the lifespan of wood in village life suggest an age span of between forty to one hundred years. The function of the masks, shrine figures, ancestor posts, and the reliquary perform roles unique to their tribe and country. As a broad generalization, all of these pieces serve their community’s welfare, either to initiate the young, to promote fertility, to bring rain and increase the harvest. In short, these artifacts are prayers to give honor to the ancestors and act as intercessors between the spirit world and the lives of the living.

Provenance

The African Art Collection was given to the Regis University Archives from the collections of Paul Hamilton, Peter Natan, and Africa Direct.

Restrictions Apply

No