Maternité "katyeleo" ("mother of the village") · Côte d'Ivoire, Sénoufo · ID: 3041877
Charles Ratton, Paris, France
Matthias L. J. Lemaire, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (1956)
Beatrice & Willi Riese, New York, USA
Olivier Castellano, Paris, France
Description
wood, rich (repeatedly oiled) blackish brown patina, pigment remains, sitting on four-legged round stool, the body directed to the front while the head is slightly turned to the left, the large breasts and the navel especially accentuated by linear scarification marks, the childs body extremely simplified, slightly dam., minor missing parts (nose, mouth, neck lobe), small areas repainted (thin crack at the left thigh, left ear, head of the child), base;
The Senufo also have symbolic maternity for fertility and reproduction and as a guarantee for the future existence of the community.
Their real significance though is much more complex. They are incarnations of the primal mother who directs and protects all the children of the community.
In particular she protects the initiates. She symbolically “swallows” the young initiates so that after their “re-birth” they become fully-fledged members of the community at the end of the initiation period.
Littérature comparée
Burkhard, Gottschalk, Senufo - Unbekannte Schätze aus privaten Sammlungen, Düsseldorf 2009, p. 80 f.
Publications
Olivier Castellano, Sénoufo, Paris 2014, p. 46 f.AHDRC: 0071478
Exposition
Galerie Olivier Castellano, Sénoufo, Paris 2014