MATERIAL & TECHNIQUE
This casting method was used to create the brass plaques of the Benin Kingdom.
What is the lost-wax casting process?
Most traditional African artworks are created primarily to do this.
What is facilitate social, spiritual, or communal interaction?
The brass plaques and ivory works come from this West African kingdom.
What is the Kingdom of Benin (Edo peoples, Nigeria)?
The horns on an Ikenga represent this quality.
What is strength or power?
African art most frequently addresses these rather than physical appearance.
What are spiritual and intellectual concepts?
The walls of Great Zimbabwe were built using this locally sourced material.
What is exfoliated granite?
The Pwo mask of the Chokwe is worn by male dancers to portray this.
What are female ancestors or ideal womanhood?
The ndop royal portrait figure belongs to this Central African kingdom.
What is the Kuba Kingdom?
Coral regalia on the Oba symbolizes his connection to this sea deity.
Who is Olokun?
Travel, trade, and war influenced African art through this process.
What is cultural interaction?
This common African building material is prone to erosion in rainy seasons.
What is mud-brick?
These Fang figures guard ancestral relics stored in bark containers.
What are Byeri reliquary figures?
Great Zimbabwe was the architectural center of this southern African civilization.
What is the Shona culture of Zimbabwe?
Hierarchical scale in Benin plaques communicates this idea.
What is political rank or authority?
Outsider study of African art has led to this over time.
What are changing interpretations and theories?
The Kongo power figure (nkisi n’kondi) is recognizable for having these objects hammered into its body.
What are nails or metal blades?
The Golden Stool of the Ashanti serves as this symbol.
What is the divine authority and unity of the Ashanti people?
The nkisi n’kondi power figures originate from this culture.
What are the Kongo peoples?
The conical tower at Great Zimbabwe resembles this everyday structure.
What is a grain storage granary?
Traditional African art is best understood as this type of object.
What is functional and participatory rather than purely aesthetic?
This personal shrine figure of the Igbo is carved in wood and symbolizes strength and success.
What is an Ikenga?
The passageways at Great Zimbabwe force visitors into this movement pattern to control access and power.
What is narrow single-file movement?
The female Pwo masks come from this group in Central Africa.
Who are the Chokwe peoples?
Food control at Great Zimbabwe symbolized this.
What is royal power and economic authority?
The sophisticated masonry at Great Zimbabwe suggests this historical reality.
What is a long-established tradition of working with permanent materials?