The Significance of Kota Reliquary Figures

🏺 The Kota reliquary figure served as an ornament to a basket holding the bones of a family member.

🌳 The community would move to new farming lands after the land they were using became infertile.

🙏 The reliquary figure provided a tangible connection to ancestors, aiding in prayer and connection across the living and the dead.

🔑 Only 3% of the Kota reliquary figures have two sides.

🎭 The reliquary guardian has a distinct form with a large head and a diamond-shaped body.

💫 The male and female sides of the reliquary figure have different decorative choices and applications of metal.

🔍 The artist uses staples to hold the metal sheathing onto the wooden support, creating a smooth surface to mimic the shining gleam of water.

🎨 The inherent colors of each metal are used to define each form, with copper strips as eyebrows and a yellow halo-like form around the head.

🤔 A new theory suggests that the artists turned the hairstyle sideways in order to flatten and abstract the image of the face.

👁️ The Kota reliquary figure has white eyes instead of black iron eyes, which is unusual and signifies a unique construction method.

🌈 Most reliquary figures have a color combination of yellow, red, and black, but this figure stands out with its white color and different materials.

✂️ The artist used a special technique of cutting thin strips or hand-pulling wire and hammering it flat to create the intricate design.

📜 The understanding of Kota reliquary figures has evolved over time, revealing their religious and aesthetic significance.

🌍 Western perception of Kota objects has been influenced by colonial beliefs and cultural misappropriation.

🔎 The term 'Kota reliquaries' is a colonial misappropriation, as these objects were made by surrounding peoples, not the Kota people themselves.

🔑 During the colonial period, reliquary figures from Kota were collected and sold in Europe as evidence of a savage or debased faith.

🚫 A shift occurred when people converted to Christianity, rejecting reliquary figures as a symbol of their new faith.

🌍 When studying African art, it is important to consider the perspective of colonizers rather than just relying on earlier testimonies and books.