Minsereh Statue. Mende Sierra Leone, c. 1970

The Mende display great freedom and abstraction in their sculpture. Sculptures of standing women are used in the context of many initiation societies that govern Mende life, in the female Sande society, and also in the Njayei, Humoi and Yassi societies. They have a protective role and a therapeutic function and are generally used to cure illnesses caused by the transgression of prohibitions. They are placed on a small altar protected from view. Height: 167 cm. Reproduced in the catalogue “Africa Babel: the Art of a Continent”, p. 27 right.
 
Exhibitions:
2022-2024 Island of Fuerteventura “Art Africa: Ancestral Light”. Lighthouse of the Entallada. Cabildo of Fuerteventura.
2021-2022 Panama City. Government of Panama. “Art Africa: the spirit of the ancestors”. Ministry of Culture Headquarters. Casco Viejo.
2019-2020 Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Caja Canarias Foundation. “Africa-Babel: the art of a Continent”. Headquarters Plaza Patriotismo.
2013-2015 Museum of Art of Africa and Oceania (Madao). La Granja de San Ildefonso, Segovia.
2005 “Black Africa”, Leather Museum.
2004 “Black Africa”. Caixa Laietana Foundation, Barcelona. Main exhibition hall