Bochio "kpodohonme" ·  Benin, Fon · ID: 3032136

Description

wood, fabric cape, metal chain with numerous padlocks around the body, rich sacrificial traces (feathers) and encrusted sacrificial patina on the head, the fabric saturated with mass, skull of a small animal (dog?), slightly dam., cracks, on metal plate, in acrylic glass cabinet;
metal objects are particularly “strong”. They invoke the Vodun “gu”, the god of iron, technology and the violence of war. Padlocks enable to “lock up” evil forces, or shut them up in an iron ring.

Comparing literature

Geest en Kracht, Vodun uit West-Afrika, Berg en Dal 1996, p. 149, ill. 68