Kongo, nkisi - (Kozo), wood, nails
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Dogs are seen and treated
differently throughout various regions of Africa.
For the Kongo people of the Zaire River basin, the dog is
seen in a positive way. Dogs are
known for the keen hunting skills and for this they are extremely valued by the
Kongo. It was believed that dogs
were able to see into this world and the world of the dead as well as connect
between the human and animal worlds.
“The Kongo link dogs to the final journey, saying that the deceased
passes through the “village of dogs” on the way to the “village of death.”[1]
The Kongo believe that communication with the dead is the base for their own powers; they connect with the spirits through rituals involving nkisi (pl. minkisi). Minkisi are power figures, often made of wood, which react against evil spirits negatively affecting the living. They activation occurs after a priest figure inserts nails into it. As with many other objects throughout Africa, the minkisi become more powerful through accumulation.
They were used for protection against the Europeans, who identified the minkisi, as “fetishes.” European fabric was often seen as a part of the minkisi, serving as a reference for the spirits. The Europeans wanted all minkisi destroyed because “Africans and Europeans thought these power figures were an effective part of the resistance to colonialism.”[2]
Minkisi are often seen as human figures or in four-legged zoomorphic forms. The addition of a mirror in the open space of the figure is a notion of the flash of spirit and seeing into the world you can not really see, behind the mirror is often where various “medicines,” are placed. “The potency or sacredness…extends…to the rest of the material apparatus and beyond it to the persons and places required by the ritual, all of which are part of the nkisi.”[3]
The positive views the Kongo have towards dogs are represented in the powerful form known as Kozo. The view that dogs are able to see into this world as well as the spirit world is referenced by the minkisi having two heads. “This double vision was unavailable to the colonizers….represents a way of looking back…by the photograph…it was not simply a stereoscopic vision but a way of seeing that was more than ordinarily human.”[4] Unlike the Europeans, the Kongo were able to see forwards and backwards by using minkisi.
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[1] Hope Werness, The Continuum Encyclopedia of Animal Symbolism in Art, (New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc, 2003), 134-140.
[2] Nicholas Mirzoeff, An Introduction to Visual Culture, Second Edition "Imperial Transcultures: Kongo to Congo", (New York: Routledge, 2009), 141-145.
[3] Wyatt MacGaffey, ART AND HEALING OF THE BAKONGO, (Stockholm: Folkens museum-etnografiska, 1991), 1-7.
[4] Nicholas Mirzoeff, An Introduction to Visual Culture, Second Edition "Imperial Transcultures: Kongo to Congo", (New York: Routledge, 2009), 141-145.
Image source: Kongo, Sculpture of a two-headed dog, covered with nails: Nkonde Lower Zaire, wood, nails, h.67.5 cm, Data from: University of California, San Diego, (photograph provided by ARTstor)
The Kongo believe that communication with the dead is the base for their own powers; they connect with the spirits through rituals involving nkisi (pl. minkisi). Minkisi are power figures, often made of wood, which react against evil spirits negatively affecting the living. They activation occurs after a priest figure inserts nails into it. As with many other objects throughout Africa, the minkisi become more powerful through accumulation.
They were used for protection against the Europeans, who identified the minkisi, as “fetishes.” European fabric was often seen as a part of the minkisi, serving as a reference for the spirits. The Europeans wanted all minkisi destroyed because “Africans and Europeans thought these power figures were an effective part of the resistance to colonialism.”[2]
Minkisi are often seen as human figures or in four-legged zoomorphic forms. The addition of a mirror in the open space of the figure is a notion of the flash of spirit and seeing into the world you can not really see, behind the mirror is often where various “medicines,” are placed. “The potency or sacredness…extends…to the rest of the material apparatus and beyond it to the persons and places required by the ritual, all of which are part of the nkisi.”[3]
The positive views the Kongo have towards dogs are represented in the powerful form known as Kozo. The view that dogs are able to see into this world as well as the spirit world is referenced by the minkisi having two heads. “This double vision was unavailable to the colonizers….represents a way of looking back…by the photograph…it was not simply a stereoscopic vision but a way of seeing that was more than ordinarily human.”[4] Unlike the Europeans, the Kongo were able to see forwards and backwards by using minkisi.
_____________________________________
[1] Hope Werness, The Continuum Encyclopedia of Animal Symbolism in Art, (New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc, 2003), 134-140.
[2] Nicholas Mirzoeff, An Introduction to Visual Culture, Second Edition "Imperial Transcultures: Kongo to Congo", (New York: Routledge, 2009), 141-145.
[3] Wyatt MacGaffey, ART AND HEALING OF THE BAKONGO, (Stockholm: Folkens museum-etnografiska, 1991), 1-7.
[4] Nicholas Mirzoeff, An Introduction to Visual Culture, Second Edition "Imperial Transcultures: Kongo to Congo", (New York: Routledge, 2009), 141-145.
Image source: Kongo, Sculpture of a two-headed dog, covered with nails: Nkonde Lower Zaire, wood, nails, h.67.5 cm, Data from: University of California, San Diego, (photograph provided by ARTstor)