FEATURE 110 Of all the archetypal themes in African art, the mother-and-child is the most fundamental, widespread, and important. These values stem partly from two obvious and unremarkable facts—we are all children and we all were born to mothers. While the mother-baby unit is omnipresent in human society, it is an equally vital font of generative ideas and actions that have energized, stabilized, and replenished societies across the African continent for millennia. The image evokes concepts and values of great importance to the peoples who make, display, and employ it. Knowing its roles and purposes reinforces the universal character of the icon while revealing deep wells of African thought. Mother-andchild arts are not just evocations of biology. They are cultural expressions varying widely as potent embodiments of history, philosophy, and worldview. I am especially fascinated by their layered meanings and complex allusions that THE COMPLEXITY FIG. 1 (left): Maternity, perhaps Ancient Mother. Senufo, Côte d’Ivoire. Wood. H: 89.5 cm. National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Walt Disney World Co., a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, inv. 2005.6.51. FIG. 2 (above): Igbo mbari house dedicated to Ala (Earth) in Umugote Orishaeze, Imo State, Nigeria. Photo: Herbert M. Cole, 1966.
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