Ujamaa family

Mainly for their artistic qualities are the Makondé of Tanzania. They work especially the ebony and sculpt delicate and complicated families of characters that overlap in a single piece of wood combining with great skill the chiaroscuro of the ebony. From the years 50 and mainly with the creation of the Nampula museum, Makondé sculpture is experiencing a new boom with the creation of various styles, its famous compositions called “devils or spirits”, the shetani, with human traits and very distorted forms, and the so-called “families” or “ujamaas”.

Shetani have totally surreal forms, a mixture of zoomorph and anthropomorphic forms that create deformed, cyclopean, abstract figures. Its creator, Samaki Likankoa, had many followers, including the famous sculptor George Lilanga. Shetani, in the Swahili language, comes from the Arabic “Shaitan” meaning devil, which comes in turn from the same Semitic root as Satan. They are pre-Islamic evil spirits that terrorize people, to such an extent that in many Tanzanian houses, mostly Muslim, they hang pieces of paper with verses of the Koran on walls or doors to protect themselves. This new art was based on traditional animistic beliefs and involved representing geniuses and spirits of nature, representing mainly beings related to Makondé mythology. Some pieces are considered as allegorical figures of social situations. Most of these works are carved from ebony wood. Many artists have proliferated given the demand for European tourism.

The statues called “ujamaas” or “families”, or tree of life, are true works of art that require a great sculptural capacity, also called “dimongos” by the natives. They represent the great African family, i.e. parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, etc., i.e. the patriarchal family, and precisely the characters of this statue are around the main figure, the patriarch or head of the family, usually the oldest, appear intermingled, in a true labyrinth of characters, performing the usual domestic tasks, in groups staggered by floors, carved in a piece of a tree trunk, always in ebony wood. The figures are carved on the inside of the trunk, an area where the ebony is blacker and are often tucked in lighter wood on the outside of the trunk, adding a beautiful light-dark effect.

They have a third, simpler style, the Binadamu, of a naturalistic character, which represents characters of daily life, often in some of their usual occupations.

This statue, a small "family" presents the curiosity of having three floors on one side and four on the opposite side. He's missing a piece at the top.