Bamana: the art of existence in Mali - exhibition preview - various artists, African art, Museum for African Art, New York and Museum Rietberg, Zurich

African Arts, Winter, 2001 by Jean-Paul Colleyn, Laurie Ann Farrell

[FIGURE 15-17 OMITTED]

Bamana people perceive Kore as the "father of the rain and thunder." Every seven years a new age-set of teenagers experiences a symbolic death and rebirth into the Kore society through initiation rituals whose symbols relate to fire and masculinity. Initiations take place in the sacred wood, where the youths are harassed by elders and the clown-like performers called koredugaw. (7)

Until the 1940s, initiates practiced a form of ritual dueling with whips. Today, however, the rituals are less severe. Furthermore, while many original types of Kore masks have been phased out and distinctions between ritual groups made less evident, initiates traditionally belonged to a several different groups, each having its own masks (Figs. 18, 19). In their general form and detail, a group of Kore masks in the two exhibitions conveys concepts such as knowledge, courage, and energy through the representation of hyenas, lions, and other animals.

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The Komo and Kono Societies

Komo and Kono are other secret societies that can be found in Bamana regions. These jow form political networks that transcend the limits of the village. Their masks and boliw are said to symbolize an association, or marriage, with the supernatural entity. (8) In contrast to Komo masks, which are covered with feathers, horns, and teeth (Figs. 21, 22), those of the Kono society are elegant and simple (Figs. 23, 24).

[FIGURES 21-24 NOMITTED]

Komo sanctuaries have spread throughout present-day Mali as well as Guinea, southern Mauritania, eastern Senegal, western Burkina Faso, and northern Cote d'Ivoire. Their style strongly reflects the influence of Arab mosques, palaces, and other types of Sudanese architecture. Traditionally led by blacksmiths, each sanctuary once exerted significant political influence, using the voice of a masked dancer to communicate messages to villagers. Again, Kono and Komo masks and boliw figures on view in both exhibitions are contextualized by video footage and photographs.

The Ci-wara Society

Ci-wara is a society related to agricultural fertility. Its performance, which incorporates the characteristic antelope headcrests and other sculpture, is based on the Bamana respect for the union of male and female. Just as human reproduction is the result of the sexual union between man and woman, so agricultural fertility is attributed to the union between the sun, an expression of the male principle, and earth and water, an expression of the female principle (Brink 1981:25). Through farming, the man manipulates the sun and brings "him" to inseminate the earth. According to Dominique Zahan, "This union is the model for the association between the man and wife and for their reproduction" (1960:34). A large ensemble of Ci-wara figures in the exhibitions, presented with video footage and field photographs, illustrates the creative range of their Bamana makers in representing antelopes, anteaters, chameleons, pangolins, and hybrid zoomorphic creatures (Figs. 25, 26, 27).