Ancestor totem tombstone (1) - Hardwood - AloAlo - Mahafaly - Mahafaly Madagascar

MF303, head of an aloalo grave stele of the Mahafaly, a woman, 875 g. 34 x 9 x 9 cm, c. 1950, Ampanihy Region, Tulear. The aloalo funerary poles are exposed to the wind and the weather, sometimes they can be quite ramshackle and makeshift on the tombs of the Mahafaly. For the most part, these are left alone, emphasising the transience of life. The dry climate preserves the wood for quite a long time, but the elements leave their trace on the sculptures. Rotten or broken stakes are then removed by the family if they still reside there. However, the top section (head) of the statue is important, as a result, it is sometimes held onto or sold. Sometimes, ‘history is rewritten’ by following generations and fragments of the ancestral stelae are cut out, added to or destroyed. Having a woman as the head figure is not common for an aloalo, acting instead as lowly bearer figures, which corresponds more to the supporting role women play in bush life. This lady also has a peculiar, untypical headdress, it could almost be a headscarf, but this seems almost impossible in light of ethnological field research. Perhaps the lady had a high status and/or was a ‘non-religious’ migrant. Heavily weathered from being kept outdoors, oxidised and overgrown with lichens. The Menabe hardwood, which has been used, hasn’t rotted or gone brittle on the inside! However, due to being kept outdoors, the surface is heavily weathered, oxidised and covered with lichen. The infrequent rain has washed deep grooves into the wood and bits have broken off in recent decades. These are unmistakable indicators of its age, which cannot be artificially created. Genuine aloalos are an artistic rarity, because worldwide, the ancestor cult, which originates in Papa Neuginea, only acquired a physical manifestation with these stele in Madagascar. A strict limit has been put on the export of cultural goods / antiques in Madagascar. Some of our old originals have been owned by the family since 1975, with their rising value for collectors, they make a worthwhile investment. We can, on request, supply a simple, discreet steel stand, because the sculpture cannot stand on its own. (Base 10 x 10 cm, height approx. 12 cm) . The figure can be attached to it and can be rotated on all sides.