Art of life.

Art of life

      Under the heading “Art of life“ We have included everything concerning the life of the person, from birth until his body returns to the land of proceeding and his soul is incorporated into the world of forefathers and spirits to which it belongs. I mean, everything about the world of the living. Certainly most of the objects included in this section also have a ritual value. All the actions of the African, in the animistic world, are imbued with a magical or religious feeling. Any of his activities or any of the stages of his life will be accompanied by a solemn rite or a simple prayer. The life of the African is a continuous song to life. Despite the hardships in which it develops, the African lives life and this love of life manifests it with a permanent smile.

Everything about life is celebrated collectively with great joy in the village. The African is not an individualist, he is part of a family and a village and will act not as an isolated individual but as part of a whole. Therefore the rites that celebrate the birth of a child, the sowing of cereals or the gathering will be the occasion of agapes and feasts throughout the village. It doesn’t matter whether it is the life of people or plants, because both are different manifestations of life and both are the object of joy and thanksgiving.

The initiation rites celebrate the different stages of life, the passage from child to adult or the passage from adult to the esoteric knowledge of a secret society. These rites will always end with feasts intended to provoke the rejoicing of the people. Numerous are the rites and feasts intended to honor female fertility, which defines women as women, and the fertility of the fields. The farmer also participates in life. Mother and mother earth are identified and both are sources of life.

There are different ways of being born into life, as is the case of twins, a mystery of nature, which confers on them an almost supernatural power, which is why they were killed at birth in other times, because they could claim to occupy the king’s throne. Hermaphrodites, another mystery of life. In many cosmogonies the first human was hermaphrodite and also hermaphroditism constitutes the basis of numerous myths and is situated as the origin of circumcision and excision or ablation, by which the boy or girl acquires her true nature by removing her organism from a sex that does not belong to her. The hunter also participates in life. He does not kill for killing, he kills animals to carry the sustenance that will allow to feed, that is to say to contribute to the development of the lives of the people of the village. All these activities will be marked by prayers, rites and expressions of joy.

A distinctive feature of human life is the word. The word has a close relationship with life. The dead do not speak, but the word of the living is different according to the peoples, its transcription into graphic signs is also different. But there are signs capable of being understood by all peoples: objects.

Objects in a world in which the written word does not exist are a means of communication, whatever they may be. They are the way these peoples express themselves, the way they convey their messages, their feelings and their sensitivity. The significance of these objects goes beyond their material expression, they are the codification of the word.

African sculpture is a materialization of the word. These works, lacking traditional societies of written codes, speak for themselves. They intend to make known through their observation what is communicated in other cultures through the written word. The features, geometric drawings, lines, colors of masks, statues or of any aesthetic or ritual object constitute a true code of signs, sometimes those of a religious or magical character only understood by the initiates. And it is through these objects that we intend to give a vision of African life.

Jesús Arrimadas Saavedra