Key Moments in Life: Leadership |
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There are three major systems of rule in Africa in which art has a role: centralized and non-centralized. Centralized systems have a chief, king or emperor established at the apex of a complex and well-ordered political bureaucracy. Such systems exert power over communities, cities, kingdoms and empires. In contrast, non-centralized systems of government rarely extended beyond the clan or community. In these communities, councils of elders representing each of the families in the community meet to make decisions about the conduct of life. In addition there are communities in which there are no apparent systems of rule at all, but the laws for the ethical and moral conduct of life are established by the nature spirits that watch over the group. |
Oba of Benin at chief's thanksgiving ceremony |
Photo © by Kathy Curnow, Cleveland State |
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Political art identifies those who hold power, while validating their right to inherit kingship or their authority as representatives of family or community. It also communicates the rules for moral behavior that must be obeyed by community members. Art in Africa is used to reflect the power of kings, to record their ancestry, to validate their rule and to demonstrate their wealth. In Africa, as elsewhere, the art of kings includes portraits of great rulers, complete with the items of dress marking them as rulers. Possession of these objects often establishes the right to rule. The portrait of the Kuba Nyim or King Shamba Bolongongo shows him seated on his low throne wearing the distinctive crown with a projecting visor while holding the sword of state in his left hand. In centralized political systems where the king is surrounded by a bureaucracy of title holders, ministers, secretaries and nobility, art serves to identify precisely and clearly the rank of each individual. |
Portrait of a king, ndop |
Kuba people,
Zaire |
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Art may also represent the authority of councils of community elders who hold the same power to rule that is held by kings elsewhere. Among such peoples as the Ibibio who live in south-eastern Nigeria political power was in the hands of a secret society called Ekpo to which senior men of the community belonged. Decisions about the welfare of the community were made by these men and their orders were communicated to the village by other members who wore masks. The masks were intended to provide anonymity to the wearer, so that the family of a criminal who had been punished could not seek vengeance, but perhaps more important to communicate the idea that authority was vested in a corporate body rather than in an individual. The Ibibio Ekpo society mask shown here displays features that are fearful to the Ibibio--dark coloring, large coarse eyes, mouth and nose, and patterns of scars at the temples. The mask was intended to inspire fear, awe and obedience in those who saw it. |
Mask, idiok ekpo for the Ekpo society |
Ibibio people,
Nigeria |
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