2b. FEATURE 108 2a. thick forest crossed by a marshy area that was teeming with animals. Kou-Jina decided to settle there with his wife right away to watch over the place, while Koumbie returned to Vala with his wife, with the intention of returning. But they did not come back. The Khul3 land belonged to the Teese who lived beyond the marsh, and they themselves offered to make the sacrifi ces needed to make it possible for Kou-Jina and his wife to build their house. In time, other families arrived from Vala to live in this place, which was called hòlí because of the white soil due to high salt content, and Kou-Jina became their chief. He named his fi rst son born in this new area Ithe, after his maternal uncle. 4 I was fascinated by this origin story, which accords more importance to history than to sculptural representation, but it was ultimately the way in the relationship between the evolution of the lineage group and its thilduu were explained to me that enabled me to go back to the origins of the creation of the art style and to discover the identity of its perpetuators. “The large fi gure in the center,” Ontore told me, “was given to Kou-Jina by the Teese, who provided this place in order to honor the memory of Ithe Kambou, his maternal uncle. They laid it on the earth of the altar immediately after his death. It wears the coiffure of the great warriors of times long past” (fi g. 3, statue 1). Ithe Kambou, the ancestor who is said to have left Vala late in his life, was described to me as a famous diviner and a healer, one of the “ritual masters” whose names and authority are inscribed in tradition. He is remembered to have had a virile beard, prodigious powers, and unique abilities. He was especially well known for the rituals he held to thwart the appearance of the “returning,” that is, the spirits of children who had died at an early age but which, according to local belief, came back to prevent future pregnancies.5 Many women consulted him and sought his help with such problems. The idea of creating a prominent cult object dedicated to this renowned individual was that of the Teese. They “personalized” the fi gure with a representation of the coiffure associated with their own warriors, their way of establishing a spiritual alliance with the descendants of Ithe (fi g. 6). The Kou lineage genealogical tree suggests that Ithe Kambou died around 1840, which would make this important effi gy the oldest identifi ed work of Lobi art. By virtue of its archaic style and its powerful monumentality, the sculpture is one of the most signifi cant examples surviving from the Teese of Khul. Each Teebo group had distinct aesthetic stylistic tendencies,6 but here the movement of the spread and slightly bent legs, a spiring statues of great beauty and majesty. I was dumbstruck when I beheld this remarkable presentation. The history of the Kou clan was before me, from the rendering carrying the power of the distant ancestor, Ithe Kambou, to the most recent cult object made in memory of Djotir Kambou, the latest ancestor, whose spirit watched over and ensured the survival of the living. A Sculpted History These thilkotina statues were conceived of as manifestations of the links that govern the relationships between the Birifor culture and its neighbors. They were made to be testimonies of the engagement of each generation with the sacred universe of their predecessors. Each of their stories shortened the distance between the present and the past. This space I had so long dreamed of was now one I had seen and experienced, a tangible reality made all the more complex by the fact that it raised many new questions with regard to the formal aspects of these cult objects, their unique and individualized style, and their sculptors. To me, this thilduu and its contents were like an index that could be consulted, a background against which the evolution of a lineage style could be traced (fi g. 2). In the gloom, I observed a man, lost in the contemplation of the objects, almost caressing them. What memories could they evoke for him? Kou oral tradition as it was transmitted to me explains that the site of Holly, then apparently uninhabited, was discovered by two Birifor hunters, Kou-Jina Kambou and Koumbie Da, who were cousins from Vala in the Malba region. They had left Vala with their wives in search of game. After having walked a great distance, they came upon a FIGS. 4 and 5 (below): Statues dedicated to the memory of Kpbure Da and Poobena Kambou, created around 1850 by the Teebo sculptor Wibrika Pale. Detail of fi g. 3. FIG. 6 (right): Statue created around 1840 by a Teebo sculptor. Archetypal style called “du Khul” from the territory located southwest of Gaoua. Hardwood, earthen patina. H: 110 cm. François and Marie Christiaens Collection. © Hughes Dubois.
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