Luba staffs of office serve as records and memory devices for the elite of the Luba culture. When each staff is created, the top and the shaft are left undecorated, as blank canvases to be carved and incised later with specific types of heads, bodies, and headdresses, as well as meaningful symbols and other imagery. Together, these motifs symbolize a specific story with clear … [Read more...] about Luba Staffs of Office: Researched by Jordan Seyer
This staff illustrates how the Luba and the Songye are closely related cultures that often borrowed ideas from one another. The facial features of the heads identify this staff as Songye, but both of these cultures made staffs with what are known as Janus images. The name Janus derives from its resemblance to the Roman deity that is depicted with two connected heads, each … [Read more...] about Six-Headed, Janus-Style Memory Staff: Researched by Jordan Seyer
In the cultures of western and central Africa, the spirit world and the physical world are deeply intertwined and have the ability to influence one another. Accordingly, a great deal of African sculpture is made to establish a link between these worlds through ritual. In addition, African cultures also influence one another. As shown in this collection of sculptures as well … [Read more...] about African Sculptures Researched by Nicholas Deckard and Moly-Elsabeth Owens