Colon Figures in African Culture

Hey dear community, first of all I would like to welcome you all to my new post and hope you had a day that was full of positive experiences! In this post, I would like to write something about art history and hope you can expand your knowledge a little.

Here you can see different types of colon figures which are carved out of wood and present an important part of African culture. The history of colon figures can probably be traced back to the 19th century and it is about expressing power relations and usually it is about orienting oneself to the African culture and these figures that originally come from the Ivory Coast in West Africa have merged with the European culture as you can see from the clothing. These figures subliminally often address important topics such as disputes between the local or colonial powers and these figures are intended as offerings, to restore the conditions within villages and were also used for ritual purposes. These figures were an important sign against the oppression by colonial powers and instead of fighting, the locals expressed their feelings with art and artists worked in great detail and the Africans usually expressed the colonial rulers very friendly to remain neutral and often this message met with interest and some colonial rulers were so enthusiastic about the representations and the people were thus able to free themselves from the oppression. These figures express an often forgotten topic from Africa and although the figures seem humorous, they often speak a sad language and it is quite remarkable that this art form has managed to set an example and defend themselves against oppression.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you could learn something new about art history! I captured these pictures with my Camera Sony Alpha 6000 plus 55-210 mm lens.