African Arts Gallery

Ex-Belgian African tribal art collection.
Lualaba province had several similar ethnic groups with similar associations. The Mboles are known for their statues embodying, according to D. Biebuck, hanged, named ofika . The lilwa , an association with dogmatic initiation rites, had a custom of judging and condemning to hanging those guilty of violations of the imposed rules. These offences ranged from murder to adultery to breaking the secrecy surrounding the lilwa . Disgraced, the bodies of convicts had no funeral sat and were buried in the forest. It was during the final ceremonies, presided over by a notable isoya , that these statues were exhibited, presented lying on a litter box. The sculptor endowed his character with a resigned and suffering face thanks to the rectangular, half-closed eyelids and a mouth simply incised into a prognathic jaw. The position is characteristic: legs bent, arms bent unnaturally, hands resting on the thighs. Locally abraded brown skate.