In Mali live the Bozo fishing people, who use
puppets to tell stories and sometimes satirize
conventional custioms or important persons. The
Bozo apply metal decoration to their sculptures,
such as this elaborate marionette. This Bozo
wooden marionette is skillfully decorated with
thin metal, providing intricate patterns and
design on the surface of the face. It wears an
elaborate headdress resembling a form of helmet
which is enhanced with metal disks. Four vertical
rods hang down from the crown of the
headdress, complimenting the graceful
elongation of the face. The headdress, the
intricate nose ring, and red-thread decorations
on the ears hint to the viewers that perhaps the
marionette represented an important, high
ranking person of Bozo society. Moreover, the
glaring glass eyes of this special person reflect
small images of the outer world, perhaps
suggestive of the marionette's spiritual comment
on the world it views. Suitably attached to a long
wooden stick to function as a dance ritual piece,
the marionette's intrinsic beauty and signifiance
as a meanignful sculptural piece would last
throughout the times to come.
- (PF.3058)
|
