Nkisi Nkondi
19th century. Wood, nails, glass, herbs & pigment. (Kongo)
Image courtesy of the Savannah African Art Museum.
Nkisi Figure
19th century. Wood, animal horn, leather, shells & cloth. D.R.C (Songye)
Image courtesy of the Savannah African Art Museum.
Nkisi nkondi are spiritual and social artefacts that emerge at the climax of the Kongo, Loango & Songye cultures in western Central Africa.
The kingdoms of the Kongo and Loango rose to power in 1300 C.E. in the wake of the dissolution of Vungu State. Contact with the Portuguese in 1482 resulted in a wealth of exchange both material and cultural. This relationship shifted over time from the trading of luxury goods, such as ivory, to human exploitation during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Along with European encroachment increasing during the beginning nineteenth century, so did the presence of the nkisi nkondi. It would be the arrival of the Belgians in 1885 and their oppressive policies that would result in the demise of these religious practices.
Nkisi nkonde is a nexus of Central African cosmology and politics, acting as a forger of alliances, criminal prosecutor and problem solver. The materials that these objects are made of serve to make a nkisi nkonde an embodiment of their belief systems. Colors, such as black, white and red represent life, afterlife and transition respectively. The wood, often of the African Olive tree, is riddled with nails, representing rites being performed on the object.
Bibliography:
LaGamma, Alisa, Josiah Blackmore, Christine Giuntini, James Green, Ellen G. Howe, Phyllis M. Martin, Adriana Rizzo, John K. Thornton, and Kristen Windmuller-Luna. Kongo: Power and Majesty. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015.
By Maxime Mballa-Tagny.