Abstract Figure, iagalganga

Origin: Mumuye Tribe, Nigeria
Composition: wood, pigment

The sculptural ingenuity of this Mumuye figure must be viewed from every vantage point to appreciate its angular essence, movement, geometry, and volume. Information on Mumuye figures is spare, and does not explain the particular stylistic interpretation of the human form. Mumuye figures seem to have fulfilled diverse functions, ranging from the reinforcement of certain elders’ status in the community, to assistance with rain-making.

Although the Mumuye peoples do not have a centralized political system, a rainpriest serves both as religious leader and as principal political authority of the community. Rain-making is central to a broader politico-spiritual system, in which control over natural and supernatural forces is the essence and basis for power. Due to the difficulty of access to their lands of rocky hills and savannahs, the Mumuye remained in total isolation until—incredibly—1959. Despite existing for centuries, Mumuye statuary was not discovered until 1968.

Mumuye figures were also used in contexts of litigation, when plaintiff and defendant held a figure embodying divine forces and consecrated with powerful substances that obliged the parties to be truthful. Additionally, the figures were brought out during fertility rites, and once also served as supernatural weapons of warfare (Ref: Kerchache, “Art Of Africa”; Roberts, “A Sense of Wonder”).

This piece has incredible movement—from every angle, it appears to be leaning, twisting, bending, swaying, or turning.

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