"Niamodo" Figure

This figure, with jointed arms joined to its body with fiber strings, belongs to the Fang culture. Its proportions may be compared to those of the “byeri” (the guardians of the ancestral reliquaries), though those figures were carved from one block of wood. Its purpose differs from that of the “byeri,” as it was never made to be placed on top of ancestral remains, but rather appeared hidden from the eyes of women at the end of ceremonies of ancestral worship to signal that the ceremony was about to end. This sculpture named “niamodo” (in the Fang language), and its expressive character is accentuated through its large eyes, which are made with recycled metal disks. Its fiber beard, feathered headdress, and jointed genitalia have not been preserved.