Anthropomorphic female figure

Baulé statuettes can either represent the spirits of the forest (asie usu) or the “spouses of the afterlife” (blolo bian and blolo bla). Asie usu spirits can possess persons entering their bodies and sending them into a trance. Effects can be violent, cause diseases and even death. When possessed, some people acquire the power to tell the future and share this power with the community. Asie usu spirits are described as horrifying, but they are represented as good-looking, in hopes of appeasing their wrath. Their representations are identical, in shape and style, to those of “spouses of the afterlife”.