African SONGYE Congo Personal Power Figure (Nkishi/Nkisi)

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African SONGYE Congo Personal Power Figure (Nkishi/Nkisi):
$500.00

A Songye diviner (nganga), in addition to designing and empowering a community nkishi/nksis (plural,mankishi) for the protection and well-being of all the members of a village, may prescribe a smaller nkishi forthe private use of an individual, customized to his or her personal needs. Individuals direct prayers toancestral spirits through personal mankishi for many different reasons. While some seek protection forthemselves and their families, others may appeal for success in pursuits that affect their livelihood, such ashunting. The most common need they address, however, is an individual woman\'s desire to have children andto prevent miscarriages. Thus, a woman may commission an nkishi that is designed specifically to enhanceher potential to conceive. Personal mankishi may also be incorporated into efforts to heal other ailments.Once an nganga effectively treats a patient with herbal medications, he may prescribe the commissioning ofsuch a work as a form of protective reinforcement.Consequently, the rituals that are essential for the creation and use of personal mankishi relate to the specificneeds they fulfill in the lives of their owners. These privately commissioned works are usually not publiclyaccessible but are kept in their owners\' homes. In order to motivate the ancestors to provide assistance in apersonal crisis, suppliants offer prayers and sacrifices to them. To mark the occasion of mukapasu, the firstday of the first quarter of a lunar cycle, all the villagers take their personal mankishi and place them aroundthe community nkishi, and these become the focus of ritual proceedings led by the nganga. This celebration ofthe reappearance of the moon is associated with prosperity and regeneration.The scale and aesthetic form of the nkishi shown here reflect its role as a personal devotional object.Whereas all community mankishi display a classical Songye ideal of male leadership, smaller customizedworks of this kind show a far greater range of idiosyncratic designs. Within this more eclectic genre ofrepresentations, though, the level of aesthetic accomplishment demonstrated by the various artists\' handlingof sculptural form is less consistent than for community mankishi, which are usually commissioned from artistswith regional reputations.The surface of this male figure is almost entirely engulfed in metal tacks, a systematic obscuring of the figure\'shead and body that gives it a wild, unruly appearance. However, their absence in areas such as the eyes andmouth makes those features look like especially deep recesses. Where \"medicines\" (bishimba) were onceinserted, an empty cavity is evident in the area of the stomach. Alan Merriam has recorded that the explicitcarving of male or female genitalia evident in such representations suggests the desired gender of a couple\'sfirst child. He notes that the turret-headed copper nails, elengyela (plural, malengyela), that cover the figuremay record consultations with the nkishi while at the same time aesthetically enhancing the figure.
Once the principal reason for their creation is fulfilled, such works no longer have relevance. While somepersonal mankishi are passed on from one generation to the next, they are generally discarded after theyperform the role for which they were conceived.