African Art Vocab

Adobe

Clay and straw that is sun-baked.

Aka

An elephant mask of the Bamileke people in Cameroon.

Bilongo

Medicinal materials added to the stomach of a nkisi n’kondi figure.

Bundu

Masks used by the Sande Society of the Mende peoples to initiate girls into puberty.

Byeri

A reliquary guardian figure of the Fang peoples in Cameroon.

Heraldic composition

A central larger figure is flanked on either side by lesser figures.

Ikenga

A shrine figure symbolizing traditional male attributes of the Igbo people of Nigeria.

Kuosi society

Bamileke nobility and court officials.

Lost-Wax Casting

Cire perdue; a method where a sculpture is carved out of wax with a clay interior, then heated to allow wax to drip out, and molten metal is poured in to create a metal sculpture.

Lukasa

A memory board used by the Luba people of the Congo.

Mblo

A commemorative portrait of the Baule peoples in Côte d’Ivoire.

Mooya

Kongo term for belly; believed to be the focal point for the soul.

Ndop

A Kuba commemorative portrait of a king in an ideal state from the Congo.

Nganga

Ritual specialist and artist of nkisi n’kondi figure.

Nkisi n’kondi

A Kongo power figure.

Nsek-byeri

Container or box that Fang ancestral remains were carried in; byeri protects this box.

Pwo

A female mask worn by men of the Chokwe people from the Congo to honor mothers.

Talisman

Intended to ward off evil with supernatural properties, or bring good luck.

Torons

Wooden beams projecting from walls of adobe buildings.

Veranda post

Vertical sculpture originally intended to be among structural posts of a palace porch.