The devastating impact of the transatlantic slave trade and the onslaught of European colonialism radically depleted Kongo communities. In a society that valued human capital above all else and in which one's standing was measured in terms of the number of one's dependents, a woman's potential to act as a vessel for life was revered. An individual belonged to the mother's clan, whose founders were characterized as larger-than-life "mother" figures. The essential role that women played in sustaining and extending their kin group was a powerful metaphor for a Kongo ideal of leadership emphasized in an array of Kongo art forms.
Kongo artists exploited the creative tension between masculine power and aggression and the regenerative and nurturing aspects of feminine influence. Female depictions that underscore this critical life-giving potential were integrated into coming-of-age rites. Following a girl's engagement and preparation for marriage, she was sequestered in a dedicated structure that featured a bed decorated with an elaborate sculptural design. The embellishments depict the individual undergoing transformation, her body anointed with red paste composed of pounded bark, a substance associated with physical transformation and spiritual intervention. Female representations were also central to the sculpture positioned above the burial site of Kongo leaders. A depiction of the leader was flanked by one or more female figures. Covered with white kaolin, or mpemba, to represent the state of transition to the ancestral realm, these female intercessors underscored the role influential ancestors might play in answering prayers for new life.
Kongo sculptors used the theme of "mother and child" as a point of departure for representations imbued with richly layered social significance. Extraordinary women are portrayed elevated on a dais and crowned with an mpu cap of leadership. They embody a state of cultivated perfection underscored through the elaborate decorative programs of cicatrization, in which abstract graphic designs were incised in the skin across the back, shoulders, and chest. Some majestic female figures framed with attributes of leadership hold their progeny in the form of a supine adult clasping its hands in a gesture of prayer. In others, the focal point is the tender intimacy of a mother nursing an infant.
Although Kongo sculptors produced large numbers of "mother and child" figures during the nineteenth century, information about the use of only one example was documented. That work was acquired during the first half of the twentieth century from an nganga (ritual specialist) who described it as an instrument invested with mystical power critical to his professional practice. It is likely that it and similar works were integral to treatments relating to childbearing and infertility. Such representations also may have been developed to conflate the imperative of childbearing with local leaders' strategies for augmenting their dependents by forging political alliances and acquiring slaves.
In the face of an urgent need for social renewal, Kongo artists invested a familiar subject with heightened importance. They did so with originality through elevating the rank of the female protagonist and recasting the infant in her arms as their society's collective aspiration for future generations. While we lack the contextual information to reconstruct the full significance of these complex representations, the personification of a female source of infinite new life portrayed with her offspring may be understood as a manifesto of the Kongo idea of "treasure in people."
Mangaaka was the most influential, spiritually empowered defensive instrument (nkisi n'kondi) introduced in response to colonial incursions and ensuing social turmoil during the second half of the nineteenth century. Hailed "king and master," Mangaaka was credited with affording unparalleled aid to petitioners and destruction to their opponents. Its displeasure was manifested through symptoms of chest ailments and spitting blood—symptoms it likewise had the power to cure.
The supreme adjudicator of conflicts and protector of communities across the Chiloango River region at a moment of intense crisis, Mangaaka sculptures are the most ambitious and monumental form of expression developed in Kongo society. The carving of Mangaaka's figurative container required the talents and experience of a master sculptor. The representation is that of an imposing male figure crowned with an mpu cap of leadership who assertively leans forward with hands on hips to confront the viewer. At once poised to spring into action and intensely reflexive, he was intended to inspire awe as a boundless force of law and order.
The nganga, or ritual specialist, who oversaw its use secreted medicines within its eye and abdominal cavities. Prominent external additions were a massive beard composed of plant matter affixed with metal around the perimeter of the chin and a raffia-fiber skirt that extended from the waist to the feet. Mangaaka power figures were perceived as having such efficacy that they were seized during colonial military campaigns and removed from the region by traders employed by European concessionary companies. Some twenty interpretations of this form survive, fifteen of which are assembled here.
Careful scrutiny has revealed that the original owners probably decommissioned a significant percentage of these works before they were released to outsiders. In some instances, extreme measures were taken to conceal the removal of sacra. For instance, once the matter in the cavities behind the eyes was removed, great effort went into carefully replacing the white metal enamel eyes and affixing them with their iron pupils. These actions suggest a final act of defiance by Kongo leaders before they relinquished what had been the most potent weapon in their arsenal.
