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 This Vodun figure from southeastern Togo can be situated within the ritual and aesthetic practices of Ewe and Fon communities, where sculptural forms operate as active agents rather than passive representations. Such objects are empowered through accumulative ritual processes, including offerings, bindings, and the application of charged substances, transforming them into loci of spiritual efficacy. The present figure’s dense aggregation of elements reflects this ongoing activation. The numerous small figures attached to the main body with cords suggest an incremental accretion of intentions and interventions. Each հավելment may index a specific petition, alliance, or resolved crisis, rendering the object a material archive of social and spiritual transactions. Binding, in this context, signifies both invocation and control, fixing volatile forces into a directed configuration. Beaded strands encircling the feet introduce additional layers of meaning. Beads in West African contexts are frequently associated with protection, status, and spiritual conductivity. Their placement at the base of the figure emphasizes grounding and the mediation between terrestrial and invisible realms. A striking feature is the human face positioned on the abdomen, displacing conventional hierarchies of perception. In many regional cosmologies, the belly is understood as a center of vitality and intuition; the presence of a face here implies an inward or alternative mode of vision, suggesting multiplicity of consciousness within the figure. The raffia cap, coated in blue and white kaolin, further marks the object’s ritual status. Kaolin signifies purity, transition, and spiritual presence, while the chromatic pairing may evoke water, ancestral forces, and transformation. Collectively, the figure embodies a dynamic, processual form shaped through continuous engagement. literature (a selection) Blier, Suzanne Preston. African Vodun: Art, Psychology, and Power. 1995. CAB46796 sold Height: 85 cm |
 photo: wolfgang-jaenicke.com, for more information, please write us an e-mail with the identification number of the photo identification no. CAB46796.jpg |
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