Over the centuries, families communicating amongst themselves in a Bantu language progressively colonized the forested regions of Central Africa. The same civilization nourished them, inhabited them, and linked them. Symbols of the lineages and groups that gave birth to them, sculpted representations spread from one end to the other of this immense geographoc area that extends from Gabon to the shores of Lake Tanganyika in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The territory, that is the entire Congo Basin and that of the Ogooué River in Gabon, covers more than four million sq. km. It crosses the south of Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa, and part of Angola. Two geographic areas can be distinguished: the immense equatorial forest and the vast southern savannas.
These spaces that were distinct at the time of the hunter-pickers were transformed during the colonial period to make room for the river networks. In the northwest, the Congo River attains an
exceptional width of 40km and this vast expanse of water is replenished by its confluence with the Ubangi. As for the climate, two seasons, wet and dry, punctuate the annual cycle. Upon descending into the subequatorial savanna, the climate becomes more moderate and favors agriculture. Magic practices related to rain therefore had the goal either of stopping the rains in the tropical zones, or bringing rain in the southern savannas.
Geographically, the distinction between the forest and savanna is quintessential. The great chiefdoms and kingdoms were constructed in the vast spaces of the savanna favoring agriculture
and small-scale husbandry. In the forest regions, the mediator role of the Pygmies was often underestimated. They contributed to the knowledge of the geographic environment and favored the movement of men
over the years.
The circulation of the populations dates back to times immemorial. Some groups moved from north to south, along the coast; others partially bypassed the equatorial forest; still others penetrated into the forests by following the waterways. Among the approximately 450 ethnicities that populated Central Africa, some were not iconophiles, like the Mongo who produced mostly pottery. Those that were are generally included in the geographic and historic itineraries presented in this exhibition.
The links and formal transfers are recognized in a number of areas: beliefs, imagination, body symbols, material techniques, aesthetic forms. Identities and breaks are thus reflected in the styles and workshops of sculptures. The rites of initiation, therapeutic rituals, ceremonies surrounding death of known figures, and the seizure of power through magic and sorcery have thus been able to cross multiple lineages and produce similar forms. Sometimes the forms resolutely oppose each other, as if the different groups wanted to affirm a different identity from that of their neighbors.
The route of the exhibition aims to present each ethnic group and its manner of modeling general lines of objects according to local variations: scarification, shapes, and colors.
