Middle Africa

Art from Central Africa, including Kongo, Kuba, Luba, Fang and Chokwe traditions and the popular and contemporary art of Kinshasa and Luanda.

No works indexed yet · 10 related artists

No open-access works for Middle Africa are in the index yet. They will appear here as more collections are indexed.

About

The forests and savannas of Central Africa produced some of the continent's most admired sculpture. Kongo ritual experts activated nkisi nkondi figures by driving nails and blades into them. Kuba weavers made raffia cloths with shifting geometric patterns, and Luba carvers made stools supported by female figures and beaded memory boards. Fang guardian figures, set on containers of ancestral relics, have glossy, calm faces, and Chokwe sculptors in Angola carved chiefs' chairs crowded with figures.

Cities produced new art in the 20th century. In Kinshasa, painters including Chéri Samba, Moke and Pierre Bodo made bright, text-filled canvases commenting on urban life, politics and morals. Bodys Isek Kingelez built fantastic model cities from card and packaging. In Angola, António Ole works across painting and installation, and Nástio Mosquito uses performance and video. From Cameroon, Hervé Youmbi reworks masks for the present, and Angèle Etoundi Essamba photographs African women.