African folk art

The tradition & historical record

African folk art consists of a variety of items: household objects, metal objects, toys, textiles, masks, and wood sculpture. Most traditional African art meets many definitions of folk art generally, or at least did so until relatively recent dates. ¹

Much African folk art consists of metal objects due in part to the cultural status of forging as a "process that is likened to the creation of life itself." While in the past ceremonial pieces were exchanged as part of social rituals (i.e. marriage), today in Senegal, metal objects are recycled as utilitarian African folk art. ¹

In West Africa, the Asante are popular for their crafts and trade in gold. For the people of Ghana, not only does the colour gold represent wealth and status but there is also belief that it is a protection to whoever wears it. Necklaces have been made of gold bells, disks, and cross-shaped beads for those to wear around the neck. In the Akan culture, each of these elements are made by getting shaped in wax then covering it with a heat resistance mould to form around the wax. After this process, the mould is heated meanwhile the wax melts in order for the melted gold to take its place. The gold is left to be cooled so that the mould can be taken apart to reveal its shine of gold. It is stated that the most important part of this necklace is a solid gold piece of jewellery that hangs from the neck; with this particular necklace, there is a pendent in the form of a small freshwater crab that is made from mould that's found from a live crab. The crab symbolized the queen mother, meaning this is a way of knowing the royal status of its wearer (Richard B, 36). As mentioned, gold earrings were another form of Africa's most magnificent jewels forms. "One of the most striking forms of jewellery in West Africa are the distinctive, four-leaved earrings worn by Fulani women" states Peter. They add that Fulani woman would have their earrings made larger than their family's wealth would increase to show her fortune and proven her safekeeping. (Richard B, 46). The meaning of each piece of jewellery is considered to be unique. Just by owning one of the pieces, one could depict hope, wisdom, or well-being of its owner (About African Art). ¹

Mini knives were used by the people of Zimbabwe, known as the Shona from southern Africa, to show respect for their ancestors. Most mini weapons were recently found as examples of honouring those who died in guerrilla warfare (Peter, 44). In another resource that'll be given below, offered some more information on weapons that was not displayed in any of the books. This website includes many styles of African Folk Art, including a few that are not discussed in the original article. On here, it is stated that most weapons were made of copper and brass but mainly iron. As you can imagine, most of the weapons included swords, daggers, knives, spears, axes, and other sorts of things; the weapons collected from the end of the nineteenth century and beginnings of the twentieth century could depict the ornaments collected on these weapons, probably to suggest wealth status. The weapons would be blessed at ceremonies then said to have magical powers to protect the warriors at battle. Interestingly enough though, not only were these weapons used for defence or to attack, but many were made of simpler tools by skilled blacksmiths (About African Art). ¹

Sculptures are important to African folk art because it represents many things such as royalty. These sculptures represent when people are having a difficult time with their religion. The "headdresses called "farming animal hat," represented the mythical antelope, who taught man agriculture" (Davis 1981; 20). There are two different types of headdresses for men and women, for male "has a stylized open-work mane, and for female "has no mane, is depicted with an offspring on her back" (Davis 1981; 20). These headdresses are used for dances and to perform religious rituals. The materials that were used to make sculptures where pigment, wood, glass, wire, encrusted matter, nails, brass, metal, grasses, iron, fibre, and sacrificial materials. ¹

Animal art is "traditions, ancient and modern" by creating what humans see in them and nature. Animal art is made from adults, they built a relationship in understanding both animals and humans. Women have a part in this, for them, are the use of fabric to create patterns from the animals. Animals were seen as an honour, power, and they were a symbol to them. Some common animals they use are crocodiles, elephants, and hornbills. But "while African artists portray some familiar animals (e.g., dogs, horses, rams), they tend to concentrate on curious menagerie of aardvarks and antelopes, bats and buffalo, pangolins, snakes, spiders, spotted cat, and a few others deemed meaningful and behaviour (Roberts 1995; 17). The animals they used to create their type of animal art are not just the common animals we know from film. The reason they create art with these types of animals is because of the details, and the "natural symbols". They represent "leadership, healing, divination, problem-solving, rites of passage, and rituals" (Roberts 1995; 16). They create this artwork on walls, craving on drums, masks, and pots. In creating this type of artwork shows them where they come from and how nature is important to them. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “African folk art”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

African folk art is folk art and pottery from the continent of Africa, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation. ²