107 3b ±1870 2a ±1850 5 ±1940 3a ±1870 4 ±1880 1 ±1840 2b ±1850 6 ±1960 achieve cohesion despite its great diversity. Based on interviews I conducted in situ between 1984 and 1991, in the following article I will attempt to piece together the history of one of these styles, which was created for ritual use around 1850 by a Teebo (singular form of Teese) sculptor at the request of the Birifor founders of the village of Holly (fi g. 1). December 1986, Holly Village Ontore is seated before me, unmoving. I see he is scrutinizing the expressions of the elders beside him. Behind them, the women seem to be waiting quietly for the reactions of this assembly, whose ultimate decision will be determined by the Kou head elder, whose lineage is of Birifor origin. I have presented my reasoning carefully, but I know that the answer to my question —and it is always the same one: “May I see the thilkotina this time?”—will require much time and refl ection. Return to Sources My research has been focused on the history of the thilkotina, the statues that are kept in and empower the thilduu, the sacred chamber of a clan. My interest ranges from the contexts of the creation of individual thilkotina to the dating of their installation in the thilduu, by way of the identifi cation of their sculptors. For me, this has become the sine qua non for gathering a corpus of information that could be useful for defi ning the different substyles of Lobi art. This historical approach supports the aesthetic study of the statuary and can then also lead to a cultural and evolutionary understanding of the objects, as well as the dating of those that are no longer in their cultural context—that is to say, which are now in private and public collections. I regularly reiterate my inquiries among the descendants of the founders of villages, not only to learn the stories of their origins but, more importantly, through interviews and photographs, to document the history of the statues housed in the thilduu of the founder’s clan.1 While seeing these cult objects is possible during the initiation period of the joro,2 there are complex protocols the rest of the time that must be followed to maintain the sacredness of the space they are kept in, and the consent of the village’s council of elders must be obtained. So here I am, for the nth time in several years, in Holly, repeating my request to Ontore Kambou, the eldest of the direct descendants of Kou-Jina Kambou, the village’s founding ancestor. The scenario is déjà-vu and not just for me; we’ve all been through this before. A silent male assembly sits in a fan-shaped group around Ontore. I know he is concentrating and waiting for the situation to settle down a bit. A vague smile seems to come to his lips. I smile too and tell myself that today might fi nally be the day. But it was not. It wasn’t until February of 1988, more than a year after this meeting of the council of elders, that I received permission to enter the Kou thilduu and see the statues that represented the power of the Birifor lineage’s protective ancestors who had founded the village of Holly. Penetrating this sacred space was a unique and striking experience. Darkness reigned and thick dust enveloped the place, which was vexing yet fascinating. In the alternating light and shadow, all of the explanations I had been given in the course of my visits now materialized before me in the form of a group of carved effi gies, awe-in- FIG. 2: Thilduu of the Kou clan with ancestor fi gures, thilkotina. Holly, 1988. Photo: Daniela Bognolo. FIG. 3: Drawing of the altar in fi g. 2 specifying the approximate installation dates of the successive statues personifying the tutelary powers of the Birifor lineage of Kou. Drawing by Daniela Bognolo. The Holly Keko Style
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