Makonde art, particularly appreciated in Germany and Japan, is relatively little known in France, like everything coming from non-Francophone Africa. The Africa department of IESA arts&culture proposes to fill this gap with a fine exhibition of the collection of Geneviève and Elie-Georges Berreby, a couple of passionate collectors. The exhibition presents wood sculptures by the Makonde people, both contemporary and old. The Berreby couple spent time with several of these Makonde sculptors; the late Elie-Georges Berreby, himself a sculptor, worked with his fellow sculptors in Dar Es Salaam. Makonde society is characterized by initiation rites of passage giving rise to major ceremonies during which dances take place in the presence of musicians. These celebrations feature mapico ancestor masks and drums, antelope horns, small bells, calabashes, articulated dolls… These old sculptures are ritual in nature and evoke the founding myth of the sculpture that comes to life and becomes the first woman, and they represent ancestors. The legends addressed in contemporary sculpture center on the “Shetani” or spirit demons, the “Ujaama” or tree of life, and the “Mawingo” or clouds from the 1960s onward. Today’s Makonde sculptors also make busts, decorative masks, carved panels, animals, “Binamungu,” human representations, and sometimes highly expressive original works evoking human suffering. For the duration of the exhibition, students from the Cultural Innovation Campus will provide mediation to make you aware of this art.
