"Heroes": Principles of African Greatness Part 5—We Are...Women Warriors

Join us for the fifth of 7 dispatches from "Heroes," exploring artworks from the National Museum of African Art’s permanent collection that tell the story of key heroic principles and personages in Africa’s arts and history, through art, biography, quotes, interviews, and music.

Heroes: Principles of African Greatness Exhibit Entryway (2019) by Brad SimpsonSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

A long-term permanent collection installation at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art.  


Curated by Kevin D. Dumouchelle

Heroes Exhibit Banner (2019) by Sakinya Washington and Lisa VannSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

Be your best. This is the quest that the greatest of heroes model for us. Through their journeys, struggles, and triumphs, exceptional individuals exemplify values that we celebrate in tales of heroic accomplishment—epics that outlast heroes themselves. Africa’s history abounds with such tales.

Exhibition photo of Toussaint Louverture et la vielle esclave (2019) by Brad SimpsonSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

Part 5: We Are…Women Warriors

The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be rather than recognizing how we are.
—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, We Should All Be Feminists, 2015

Heroes Series 5 (2021-01-07) by Kevin DumouchelleSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

Heroes and Artists of Part 5 (3:26)

Small Iriabo (Clapping Girl) (1987) by Sokari Douglas CampSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

Women have carved out a space for themselves in the heart of Heroes. While every other series contains significant artworks by women or features women heroes in history (indeed, in most both), this space brings together works that speak exclusively to female- -centered stories. 

In the spirit of both the original feminist anthem (“I Am Woman”), and the exhibition that announced the fruits of the museum’s Women’s Initiative (I Am . . . : Contemporary Women Artists of Africa, 2019), alongside which Heroes was launched, here we celebrate a wide range of women’s contributions to Africa’s history.

Heroes: Principles of African Greatness Story 5 Themes (2021) by Marc BretzfelderSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

Each principal in Heroes is represented by an artwork and a specific historic African person who embodies the value expressed in the selected work. In this fifth dispatch, we explore art and heroes who are Accomplished, Beautiful, Benevolent, Feminist, Sustaining, and Matriarchs.

Phemba (maternity figure) (1833/1866) by Possibly the Master of Kasadi (Kongo [Yombe subgroup] artist)Smithsonian National Museum of African Art

Sustaining



She is a vision of goodness—a protector, a nourisher, a provider.

Phemba (maternity figure)

Possibly the Master of Kasadi (Kongo [Yombe subgroup] artist) 
Kongo Central Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo 
Mid-19th century 
Wood, glass, glass beads, brass tacks, pigment 

Purchased with funds provided by the Smithsonian Collections Acquisition Program, 83-3-6

Cradling her child in her arms while focused on a distant goal in the future, she sits upright adorned with attributes of Kongo leadership...

...including a chief’s knotted hat...

... and beauty, bearing elaborate scarified tattoos...

...filed teeth...

...and a smooth, serene composure.

Her piercing eyes are half-closed, but stare directly ahead. 

She is concentrating not just on the child in her lap, but on a larger, metaphorical goal, as-yet-unrealized, on the distant horizon. Collected before 1914, this figure is one of six examples attributed to an as-yet-unnamed master artist.

This figure likely served as a phemba, an icon associated with Kongo religious groups centered on healing and motherhood, particularly during periods in the 18th and 19th centuries when the trade in enslaved peoples was at its most disruptive in this region. Typically, maternal qualities of nourishment and protection, embodied in the gesture of this phemba, take on new meaning in such a horrific and traumatic context.

Image missing

Ana Njinga

Submitting to no European, she kept her kingdoms intact.

c. 1583–1663, b. Kabasa, Angola
Ruled over Kongo kingdoms of Ndongo and Matamba from Matamba, Angola

Anna Zingha, Queen of Matamba (1800/1900) by François VillainSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

Ana Njinga meets the Portuguese governor (1732) by Giovanni Antonio CavazziSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

When meeting with the Portuguese governor, Njinga was given a mat, rather than a chair, on which to sit so as to indicate her subservience to the European power. 

Njinga ordered one of her servants to sit on all fours and sat on his back—looking the governor in the eye, as (at least) his equal.

Anna Zingha, Queen of Matamba (1800/1900) by François VillainSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

· A skilled diplomat and military tactician, Njinga was queen of the kingdom of Ndongo, later conquering Matamba when forced out of her original court.

· Njinga offered sanctuary to runaway slaves while resisting the Portuguese who sought a more pliable leader for the kingdoms. 

· Njinga negotiated a treaty with the Dutch against the Portuguese—pitting one European power against another while protecting her kingdoms. 

Selections from the Heroes Playlist




Prince Nico Mbarga – “Sweet Mother”
Lyrics by Prince Nico Mbarga
Sweet Mother. Rogers All Stars, 1976.
Highlife

Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ mask (1801/1900) by The Anago Master (Yoruba artist)Smithsonian National Museum of African Art

Matriarch

Yoruba mothers are not to be messed with.

Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ mask

The Anago Master (Yoruba artist)
Anago or Ifonyin region, Pleateau Department, Benin
19th century
Wood, pigment
Museum purchase, 97-11-1

Women of a certain age in Yoruba communities, often market traders and people of considerable authority and referred to as àwọn ìyà wa (our mothers), were historically considered to have great capacity—for good, or otherwise. 

Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ developed as a masquerade to honor and soothe these powerful women. Performed by men, Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ always depicts women, often with elaborate superstructures placed above conventionally stylized faces. 

This mask is one of four identified as being by the same individual, an unidentified artist from the Anago region of Benin. 

The distinctive arrangement and size of its features are consistent with characteristics of this master, as are the flat-topped, rectangular ear, the profile of the eyelids, and the precise, triangular chip carving.

Image missing

Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti


The “Lionness of Lisabi,” she fought for suffrage and equal rights.


1900–1978, b. Abeokuta, Nigeria
Worked in Lagos

Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (2019) by Augustus (Gus) Casely-Hayford and Michael BriggsSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti

Unidentified photographer, c. 1950s–1960s

Everett Collection Historical/Alamy Stock Photo

There has not been a—ny—body, in these whole politics in Africa—only two people have walked on the streets to [have] people follow the way they are going—Nkrumah, and my mother!
—Fela Kuti, speaking of his murdered mother, c. 1978 

· Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was a Nigerian women’s rights activist, political campaigner, and teacher—and mother of Afrobeat superstar Fela Kuti. 


 · She was an advocate for female suffrage, founding a women’s rights organization that became a national union of women.

· Ransome-Kuti founded the Commoners People’s Party and was a delegate to independence negotiations with the British.

· She was murdered in Fela’s compound in 1978 during a raid ordered by Nigeria’s then military government.

Selections from the Heroes Playlist




Lilias White – “Rain” (from Fela!: The Musical)
Lyrics by Bill T. Jones and Jim Lewis
Fela! The Musical. Knitting Factory Records, 2010.
Broadway (Afrobeat)

Fela Kuti – “Coffin for Head of State” 
Lyrics by Fela Anikulapo-Kuti
Kalakuta Records - 1981.
Afrobeat

Wakemia (ceremonial spoon) (1901/1966) by Wè artistSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

Benevolent

The embodiment of generosity.

Wa ke mia (ceremonial spoon)

Wè artist
Montagnes District, Côte d’Ivoire
Early to mid-20th century
Wood, metal, oil
Gift of Walt Disney World Co., a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, 2005-6-58

As a testament to her compassion, a particularly self-sacrificing woman might have a spoon like this commissioned for her by her community.

Both Dan and Wè communities honored women who held the distinction of providing not only for their households, but also for unexpected visitors, traveling musicians, and seasonal farm workers. The emblem of a woman’s achievement became a specially commissioned spoon that may have also served as a generalized portrait of the owner.

Such spoons were trophies of a woman’s capacity, quite literally, to bring her community together.

Image missing

Leymah Gbowee

She led Liberian women in a nonviolent campaign to end the civil war.

b. 1972, Monrovia, LiberiaWorks in Monrovia

Leymah Gbowee (2019) by Gus Casely-HayfordSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

Leymah Gbowee (2012-10-08) by Ulf AndersenSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

Women are the ones that bear the greatest burden. We are also the ones who nurture societies.
—Leymah Gbowee,interview, 2008

·  Gbowee is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist whose interfaith organization, Women ofLiberia Mass Action for Peace, is credited with helping to bring an end to Liberia’s 14-year civil war.

·  Gbowee gathered thousands of women from across ethnic/religious divisions throughout the country to organize protests and strikes in Monrovia.

·  When peace talks held in Accra, Ghana, appeared to be breaking down, Gbowee and 200 other women formed a human barricade, preventing warlord Charles Taylor and his representatives from leaving until peace had been achieved.

   ·  The close of the conflict paved the way for the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female head of state.

Wunkermian (ceremonial spoon) (1901/1966) by Dan artistSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

Accomplished












Economist. Civil servant. Peacemaker. President. In Liberia, women have done it all.

Wunkermian (ceremonial spoon)

Dan artist
Nimba County, Liberia or Montagnes District, Côte d’Ivoire
Early to mid-20th centuryWood, metal
Bequest of Samuel Rubin, 79-16-28


A trophy of achievement, a spoon like this could also be awarded to a woman of great skill and accomplishment. A generous host, a philanthropist, an accomplished farmer, a magnanimous businesswomen might merit such a distinctive award.

Image missing

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

A true “Iron Lady,” she was Africa’s first elected female president.

b. 1938, Monrovia, Liberia
Works in Monrovia

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (2007-10) by Robert D. WardSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, commencement address, Harvard University, May 26, 2011

· Born and raised in Monrovia, Sirleaf studied economics and public administration at Harvard. 


 · Sirleaf served as finance minister under multiple pre-civil war Liberian administrations, earning a reputation for integrity in her clashes with the military governments. She was arrested several times and went into exile.



· In exile, Sirleaf served with multiple global institutions, including the World Bank, Citibank, and the United Nations.

· Sirleaf returned to Liberia in 2003 to chair the Commission on Good Governance, which sought to prepare the county for elections following two devastating civil wars. 

· Elected twice to the presidency (2006–18), she worked to secure foreign investment and to have Liberia’s entire foreign debt forgiven. She instituted a Truth and Reconciliation Committee to address Liberia’s devastating recent decades, on which Leywah Gbowee, with whom she shared a Nobel Peace Prize citation in 2011, served

Pwo (face mask) (1901/1933) by Chokwe artistSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

Beauty

She’ll tease you. She’ll unease you. She is the very embodiment of grace and charm.

Pwo (face mask)

Chokwe artist
North or South Lunda Province, Angola, or Kwango Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Early 20th century
Wood, plant fiber, pigment, copper alloy
Museum purchase, 85-15-20

This serene, show-stopping masterwork is the epitome of feminine beauty. The mask represents a beautiful young woman adorned with an elaborate hairdo. 

Historically, pwo danced in honor of the founding female ancestor of a particular Chokwe family’s lineage. A male dancer, dressed like a woman in a costume of braided fiber, wears a loincloth, carries a fan, and moves in slow, precise steps to emulate a  graceful young woman. 

Celebrating her beauty, pwo also extols the dignity and moral worth of a well-respected family. In a work such as this, the artist, at the height of his particular powers, deploys aesthetics as a means of articulating a sort of moral philosophy. In the case of pwo, outward representations of physical beauty stand in as a signifier for an inner moral beauty as well.

Image missing

Leila Lopes

Miss Universe aims to combat ugly stigma still associated with HIV/AIDS.

b. 1986, Benguela, Angola
Works in New York, N.Y.

Leila Lopes - Principles of African Greatness Intro (2019) by Michael Briggs and Augustus (Gus) Casely-HayfordSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

Leila Lopes, Miss Universe (2011-09-13) by Dietmar Lang and Courtesy agência latinapressSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

Being Miss Universe is much more than having a sash and crown. It is about taking pride in my commitment to serving as an ambassador to my country, and to women everywhere.
—Leila Lopes, interview upon being crowned Miss Universe, 2011

· Prior to entering beauty pageants, Lopes studied business at university in the United Kingdom. 

 · Upon being crowned Miss Universe in 2011, Lopes became only the fourth African woman (of 60) and the first Angolan to earn the title.

· With her global profile, she aims to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and the discrimination those with the disease experience.

Small Iriabo (Clapping girl) (1987) by Sokari Douglas CampSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

Feminist

The very existence of this sculpture is a feminist act.

Small Iriabo (Clapping Girl)

Sokari Douglas Camp
b. 1958, Buguma, Rivers State, Nigeria
Works in London, U.K.
1987

Steel, wood, paint, motor
Museum purchase, 97-5-1

This clapping figure recalls the coming-of-age ceremony (iriabo) that initiates Kalabari girls into womanhood. When presented to the community, the initiates are typically dressed in valuable cloth wrappers and adorned with coral beads and necklaces.  Small Iriabo (Clapping Girl) claps her hands—four times a day, currently, in the Heroes gallery—as though preparing the way for a major event.

 Sokari Douglas Camp has taken up her welder’s torch as an artist in calm defiance of restrictions. Douglas Camp’s large, semiabstract, often kinetic, figurative works have been inspired by the sounds, movements, and colors of both communities to which she belongs — Kalabari society in the Niger Delta and African expatriates living and working in London. Yet, she was born in a community in which women have historically been prohibited from sculpting in wood and metal.

Could Clapping Girl be anticipating a new moment, in which women—in London, in Port Harcourt, or anywhere in between—are completely free to express themselves, on terms they set? Could she be helping us to imagine a moment, in the words of author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, in which we are all, in fact, feminists?

Image missing

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

She is one of the continent’s clearest voices for women’s rights.



b. 1977, Enugu, Nigeria
Works in Lagos, Nigeria, and Columbia, Maryland

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Principles of African Greatness Intro (2019) by Michael Briggs and Augustus (Gus) Casely-HayfordSmithsonian National Museum of African Art

The problem with gender is that it prescribes how we should be rather than recognizing how we are.
—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, We Should All Be Feminists, 2015

· A recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant,” Adichie is one of Africa’s most critically and popularly lauded writers. 

 · Her novels and short stories, including Purple Hibiscus (2003), Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), The Thing Around Your Neck (2009), and Americanah (2013) address Nigeria’s troubled history and the experience of race in America, among other themes.



· Her essay and TED talk, “We Should All Be Feminists” (2014), has been a widely shared touchpoint for contemporary debate on feminist issues; Adichie has also written on behalf of LGBT rights in Nigeria.

We Should All Be Feminists - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TEDxEuston Talk

Selections from the Heroes Playlist




Nina Simone – “To Be Young, Gifted, and Black”
Lyrics by Nina Simone and Weldon Irvine
To Be Young, Gifted, and Black. RCA, 1969.
Soul

Credits: Story

Curated by Kevin D. Dumouchelle
National Museum of African Art
Smithsonian Institution

Story Design by Marc Bretzfelder
Office of the Chief Information Officer
Smithsonian Institution

Photos of Phemba (maternity figure), Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ mask, Wa ke mia (ceremonial spoon), Wunkermian (ceremonial spoon), Pwo (face mask), and Small Iriabo (Clapping Girl), by Franko L. Khoury, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
Explore more
Home
Discover
Play
Nearby
Favorites