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PHILADELPHIA 97 that require close-up examination and a slower pace by the visitor (fi g. 2). Over the course of the exhibition, the scale of objects and their presentation grows, ultimately requiring the visitor to step back from a display of Kota reliquaries at the end in order to take in the whole and echoing the zoom-in and zoom-out principle of focusing on a single object before comparing it to the rest of a group (fi g. 3). The fi rst section of the exhibition considers how materials act as creative constraints in the artistic process. It features a broad range of artworks from fi gurative Kongo “souvenir” ivories to a tusk decorated with abstract motifs from the Babanki-Tungo kingdom, as well as a South African power bundle that brings natural and man-made elements together in unexpected ways (fi g. 4), and Fang currency blades artfully bound in knotted webs of plant fi ber. A large selection of cups and textiles produced by the Kuba and neighboring communities are placed adjacent to one another, showing how similar abstract patterns were produced by both additive and subtractive methods and applied to two- and three-dimensional surfaces, necessitating different processes on the part of the artist and producing different visual effects for the viewer (fi gs. 5–7). The second section of the exhibition explores how objects provide clues about their lives, including how they were experienced and altered over time. A group of fi gurative works displayed in the round invites questions about how an object is oriented in relation to viewers. A seated female Baule fi gure beckons the viewer to approach frontally, but the feet of the infant on her back protrude at her waist and invite movement around the sculpture. A Sotho doll, with its featureless round head and symmetrical, conical body offers a less obvious starting point. Only the doll’s hair helps the viewer fi nd which side is intended to be read as a face (fi g. 9). A large group of Central African power fi gures in this section is arranged in a formation, all facing the same direction to allow visitors to compare them frontally, in profi le, and from behind (fi g. 1). A number of these fi gures are Kongolese nkisi, each showing various signs of use and wear. Some fi gures possess the full complement of power bundles, nails, chains, FIG. 8: Nail fi gure, nkisi. Yombe, Loango region, Angola or DR Congo. Late 19th–early 20th century. Wood, brass, nails, mirror, metal fragments. H: 83.3 cm. Penn Museum, Philadelphia, inv. AF5361. Photo courtesy of the Penn Museum.


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