Abstract Kotina Figure Representing an Ancestor

Origin: Dagari (Dagara) Tribe, Burkina Faso
Composition: wood, feathers, ritual accumulation

The Dagari, or Dagara, are a small subgroup of the Lobi, who live across southern Burkina Faso and northwestern Ghana, where they migrated around the turn of the 19th century. Like the Lobi, the Dagari do not carve masks, and the bulk of their artistic output is focused on the creation of stools and figures that represent ancestors.

The figure shown here is known as kotina, and would have been kept in a family shrine which served to honor the ancestors and protect Dagari families and the community. Like the Lobi, every Dagari family maintains a such a shrine, which is known as thil du, or thilduu. Kotina figures are respected as some of the most abstract and mysterious of all African carvings (Ref: Bosc, "Lobi Art and Culture," Roy, Land of the Flying Masks).

This piece is the most spectacular kotina figure that SUJARO has come across in Africa, in published materials, or in museums worldwide. It shows incredible signs of age and evidence of repeated libations. The remnants of a nose on the highly eroded face are just barely visible, and allude the the piece's considerable history. Purchased on a field collecting trip directly from the tribe in western Burkina Faso in 2007.