Sculpture - Wood - Chamba - Nigeria

A female Chamba sculpture Northern Nigeria. "Similar to their Mumuye and Jukun neighbours, the Chamba venerate anthropomorphic statues of male and female gender. As Fardon (in Berns, Fardon and Kasfir 2011: 231) explains, figural "sculptures were highly versatile instruments in the Middle Benue. They might stand in particular for ancestors, or for a collectivity of the dead (ranging from those of a specific kin grouping to the dead generally) , or for dangerous spirits that were taken to be human-like in appearance. In different contexts, the same anthropomorphic figure might evoke some or all of these types of being, and it might do so differently for participants, for onlookers, and for those excluded except by hearsay, who enjoyed more or less insight into what was taking place.