Pygmy: Supernatural

Mado Poundiji - The eye of the ancestors (2016)

At the end of the 19th century, the high demand for ivory, rubber and timber first, and then the development of monoculture plantations by the French colonial administration (coffee, cotton, palm oil), imposed the introduction of forced labour and the exploitation of the Bantu villagers. Because of this growing subjugation by the French colonists, the Bantu were forced, in turn, to increase their pressure on the neighbouring Aka Bayaka. They were not only required to hunt more to feed the trade of ivory, meat and leather, but they were also forced to work in the Bantu’s fields and plantations.

Gerard Essombe - The healer (2016)

The Aka Bayaka Pygmies are regarded as inferior beings, “half human and half animal”, and are treated in an inhuman and degrading manner by their neighbours, the Bantu, who use them as slaves in their fields. Their work is underpaid: they get a cigarette or a bottle of beer for one day’s work. The Pygmies are not allowed to choose how they are paid. The products that the Pygmies sell are valued differently if they are sold by the Bantu. The Pygmies still barter, while the Bantu, who are used to the monetary system, exploit the situation and speculate against them. More and more often, the Pygmies get into debt with their Bantu masters; this legalized system of usury prevents their true emancipation.

Yayu Feti - Bad hunt (2016)

Although the Central African Republic has signed the Convention No. 169 of the ILO (International Labour Organization) on indigenous and tribal peoples, promoting equality for all citizens regardless of their ethnicity or culture, its implementation at the local level is still somewhat problematic. The racial discrimination of Pygmy children at school and illiteracy exacerbate the exclusion of the Aka Bayaka Pygmies from the public, economic and political life. Most of them do not have a birth certificate or an identity card, which prevents them from travelling to neighbouring countries during the hunting seasons, or from claiming their rights as citizens of the Central African Republic.

Pauline Bossea - Water, forest, earth (2016)

The home of each Pygmy is the forest; the camp is the essential place for each household, but more importantly it is the starting point to keep the forces of nature in the right balance and harmony. In the image that the Aka Bayaka havemof the world, each action is guided by the higher spirit of the forest: the Zengi spirit. Spiritual forces are present in all living beings: humans, animals, plants and mushrooms, and these play a key role in life and in the collective rituals. It is the task of the oldest in the village, the divine healer and the master hunter to intercede, get to know and make peace with the supernatural forces, the spirits of the hunted and killed animals, or the spirits of the ancestors at the most difficult times for the community.

Henriette Nande - I dream (2016)

The idea for this collection comes from the desire to present the richness and value of the Aka Bayaka culture, with the aim of claiming the respect and dignity it deserves. Among many questions, these people also need answers. How can we protect their traditional cultural values from modernity, while avoiding any form of “folklore”? How can we deal with the processes of globalisation, which also arise from our most unaware choices, and have consequences on seemingly faraway places, threatening the existence of an entire population?

Paolo Prina Art Curator