africa art

BAMANA Mali

AD 1300 - present

Ciwara (Chiwara)

nyama=ritual power, the force that animates all life, embodied in all living things but also present in inanimate materials (earth, clay, stone, iron)

nyamakalaw=those who handle nyama, especially blacksmith-sculptors

boli=ritual object or altar

Stephen Wooten

Nyamakala: The Bamana recognize three groups of artists who handle and transform nyama:

1) Griots (male and female oral artists, musicians, traditional historians) speech is considered to have nyama, it is

powerful and potentially dangerous. 2) Leatherworkers, who transform the skins of animals into leather 3) Blacksmith-sculptors who transform iron ore into iron, and who

transform wood into beautiful sculptures, and whose wives are potters, transforming clay into pottery, all by means of fire

Bamana sculpture of an exceptionally powerful woman with child. Note the headdress that represents the kind of protective hat worn by hunters and

warriors, covered with powerful amulets, medicinal packets stuffed into horns and the knife strapped to the

upper arm, like the reclining terracottas figure from Jenne-jeno

Bamana figures on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art carved by blacksmiths

Metropolitan Museum of Art Mother and Child 15th–20th century Bamana peoples Bamana notions of ideal beauty and character are evoked in this figure of a mother and child. The figure is part of a corpus of large, relatively naturalistic sculptures whose rounded volumes and variety of gestures depart from the angular forms and stiff postures characteristic of many other types of Bamana sculpture. These figures are displayed at the annual ceremonies of "Jo", an association of initiated Bamana men and women, and at the rituals of "Gwan", a related society whose purpose is to help women conceive and bear children. Groups of sculptures which were collectively owned by individual communities to be publicly exhibited on such occasions, included representations of a mother and child, a male companion, and related attendant figures.

This figure depicts a woman of extraordinary abilities, as shown by the amulet-laden hat she wears and the knife strapped to her left arm, both of which are conventionally associated with the powers of male hunters. An even more vital message conveyed by the sculpture is the importance of motherhood in maintaining social cohesion and continuity within Bamana society, and elders' roles in passing on their skills, powers, and values to future generations.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/ collection/search/312336?

searchField=All&sortBy=Rel evance&where=Africa%7cM ali&ft=Gwan&offset=0&

amp;rpp=20&pos=6

The term Ciwara (pronounced Chi-wara) refers to:

1) the mythical beast that taught the Bamana to farm.

2) to the society that celebrates farming (see Wooten article)

3) and to the antelope sculptures, wooden headdresses that usually appear in pairs

What does Steven Wooten say about these images?

Wooten describes a series of events he witnessed while doing research on agricultural practices among the

Bamana, including several ciwara performances

This photograph was taken by a friend of mine who witnessed a ciwara wonder-working performance that included this man putting his hand into the fire, grabbing a burning stick,

without getting burned (do not try this at home!)

There are three distinct styles of Ciwara headdresses: vertical, composite and horizontal. All include elements of antelopes, some anteaters, and abstract

elements that are not found in nature. Remember, these represent a mythical beast.

Pangolin

eland antelope

bull sable antelope Aardvark

vertical style Ciwara

Verticle style ciwara

The male figures are the most

elaborate with a lot of creativity in

the abstract patterns of the

mane

vertical style Ciwara

this vertical style Ciwara sold at auction in 2012 for $130,000

Photograph taken before 1910 of a Banana ciwara performance

Composite style (often combining antelope with anteater/aardvark/pangolin) Ciwara

horizontal style ciwara headdresses

This one has the tail of a chameleon

boli (ritual altar) mixed media (don’t ask!, okay, see the next slide with a

bolt and the description from the Met Museum)

Most boli are small, can be held in the hand and danced with, but check this one out.

Met Museum Power Object (Boli) 19th–first half of 20th century Bamana peoples A rough, cracked surface obscures exact identification of the organic and inorganic materials assembled to create the boli (pl.: boliw), or power object, shown here. Such objects play an essential role within Bamana spiritual life. Boliw have attracted much attention from Western observers due to their amorphous forms and unusual materials. The bulbous and amorphous shape is rather idiosyncratic within the repertoire of Bamana art. Boliw are composed of a wooden armature "core" wrapped in white cotton cloth, around which clay and sacrificial materials are encrusted. This boli has four short "legs" upon which it sits, as well as a single hump rising from the top. The creature that a boli represents is unidentifiable, but many take on the loose zoomorphic form suggested by this work, while others may be anthropomorphic.

The primary function of a boli is to accumulate and control the naturally occurring life force called nyama for the spiritual benefit of the community. The composition of the encrusted patina varies, but all the ingredients possess this inherent and important spiritual energy. The encrustation may include the blood of chickens or goats, chewed and expectorated kola nuts, alcoholic beverages, honey, metal, animal bones, vegetable matter, and sometimes millet. Sometimes this added matter is so extensive that it obscures the original wooden form and takes on a shape all its own. As the encrustation cracks and hardens throughout the years, it gives the impression that these ingredients are tightly packed within the boli. As the sacrificial materials accumulate over time, each added layer affords the structure greater spiritual power.

Boliw and their numerous ingredients have been interpreted in a number of different ways. It has been suggested that the disparate elements of which boliw are composed symbolize the various parts of the universe, so that the whole can be read as a model of Bamana cosmological belief. Such power objects are owned by male associations whose members progress through induction processes that span decades. Over time, they attain an esoteric knowledge of the natural and spiritual world. Opaque and mysterious to the uninitiated eye, boliw are safely handled only by those association members equipped with the most rarified expertise and knowledge.

https:// www.metmuseum.or

g/art/collection/ search/312389

former West African Airline

Hotel in Bamako

Former Malian airline with ciwara logo

West African Research Association (WARA)

Because of the graphic clarity and elegance of the Bamana

chiwara sculptural design, the headdress has inspired

countless commercial logos

African restaurant in Palermo, Sicily, Italy

Ciwara as the name of an award given by the Malian state

ciwara wax cloth design

Chiwara as the name for a nonprofit organization in Michigan that provides training and workshops around issues of sustainability. The website is no longer active (maybe the organization disbanded) but I am curious as to where the founder got his idea to use Ciwara as the inspiration for the organization

and for their design logo. Maybe he took an African art class and learned about Ciwara there???

This is a film still from the Avengers: Infinity War (2018) when Shuri heals Vision. While most of the objects in Shuri’s high tech lab are shiny and new, here (out of focus) you can see the unmistakeable

outlines of a vertical ciwara on a pedestal in the back ground. Can anyone get me a better shot of this?

Lorenzo Pace, Triumph of the Human Spirit, 2000,

black granite, Foley Square, Manhattan

In the mid-1990s I got a phone call from artist Lorenzo

Pace. He was submitting a design for a public art

commission for the African Burial Ground project. He knew that I had worked in

Mali with Bamana artists and he wanted to ask me about the ciwara tradition. He told me his idea was to base the

massive sculpture on a female ciwara headdress, and he was

concerned that his design would not offend Bamana

sensibilities. When he told me it would be a 20-30 foot high stone, my first thought was to

say that a Banana farmer would not recognize it. What

do you think?

https://www.nycgovparks.org/ parks/thomas-paine-park/

highlights/19692http://lorenzopace.com/triumph-of-the-human-spirit/