Wooden Figurine

• Object: Wooden Figurine
• Artist: -
• Circa: -
• Dimensions: 10"H x 3"W
• Culture Area: Africa / Burkina Faso / Ivory Coast / Ghana
• Cultural Group: Lobi
• Cultural Context: Lobi Bateba / Mbaka Female Figure The Lobi people live in a vast geographical area that stretches from Burkina Fasso, to the Ivory Coast and into Ghana. Villages are spread out over wide areas and are made up of several compounds. The Lobi community is not organized on the basis of kinship or political ties and lacks any kind of centralized political authority in the form of a chief king or council of village elders. Instead the members of the community are united by common adherence to the cult of a nature spirit called “thil” (pl thila) and the rules that determine correct social behavior in the community are the rules that the spirit dictates through the diviner (thildar). The thila are invisible spirits of nature with certain supernatural abilities and powers that they can use for malevolent or benevolent ends. Each village has a particular spirit (dithil) that is responsible for the entire village. Social behavior is regulated by these thila, whose will is passed to ordinary people by priests and diviners. Wooden or clay sculpture, called bateba, act as an intermediary between a particular thil and the Lobi community. Lobi bateba figures have a wide degree of style and are made for a wide range of purposes. In Lobi communities anyone can learn to carve, it is not limited to people with specialized training. Lobi bateba figures are believed to be able to act in behalf of their owner, they are considered a living being and have the ability to act out against forces that could harm it’s owner or bring good things to it’s owner depending on it’s intended purpose. - https://www.randafricanart.com/Lobi_Bateba_figure15.html The Lobi are an ethnic group that originated in what is today Ghana. The name Lobi originates from two Lobiri words; lou (meaning forest) and bi (meaning children), literally ‘Children of the forest’.The Lobi do not use masks. Instead, they create male and female spirit figures called bateba with heads sculpted on top of a post planted in the ground. The bateba statues are carefully polished and their patina is shiny and lustrous. Bateba is considered as a living being and may see, communicate, and intervene on behalf of its thil spirit. Every house has a small shrine room set apart for the worship of ancestral spirits. The Lobi people hand-craft wooden bateba figures in a wide degree of styles made for a wide range of purposes. Anyone can learn to carve in the Lobi community. It is believed that these figures act on behalf of their owner, and are considered to be a living being, having the ability to repel harmful forces or manifest good things to it’s owner. - https://bashiri.com.au/bateba-statues-lobi-people/ Bateba generally translates to “wooden carved figure”. The Lobi consider these figures to be protective house spirits. Throughout Lobi country exact meaning can differ, but the general consensus is that the figures function to protect the families who own them. Families provide offerings and sacrifices to the spirits that reside in the figures in hopes of keeping them happy so they continue to serve the family. Offerings can include food, beer, sacrificed animal blood, pottery, and other things. The bateba are always placed on a shrine in the house and they are regarded as living beings with the ability to act against forces that could harm the family. Anyone can learn to carve bateba figures and creating them is not limited to people with specialized training. They therefore can vary widely in style. They are almost always made in pairs, a male and a female, however it is unclear if these two figures in the PLU collection were ever such a pair; they were accessioned years apart from each and it is impossible to identify their maker. - https://www.plu.edu/africanartcollection/figures/lobi-1/learn-more-lobi-1/ Research and writeup by student employee Debora Vitaliano 9/08/22
• Donor: Barbara & Hiro Narita
• Catalog #: 114.241