African Arts Gallery

Individual protection figures such as ours, used by the Hemba and the Kusu, were inspired by Songye fetishes. The magic charge, composed of ingredients of various origins, was inserted at the top of the head where an orifice remains.
Irregular satin patina, erosions and gaps at the base. The Kusu established on the left bank of the Lualaba have borrowed the artistic traditions of the Luba and the Hemba and have a caste system similar to that of the Luba.
The Hemba for their part settled in the south-east of Zaire, on the right bank of the Lualaba. Formerly under the domination of the Luba, these farmers and hunters practice ancestor worship by means of effigies long attributed to the Luba. The singiti statues were kept by the fumu mwalo and honored during ceremonies during which sacrifices were offered to them. Alongside the authority of the hereditary chiefs, secret societies, male such as the bukazanzi, and female, the bukibilo, played a major role within the clan.