Footnotes

The Mbole, a small ethnic group residing in the equatorial rainforest along the Lomami River in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are part of the larger Mongo language group. Their art, celebrated for its abstract figural forms, is best represented by the remarkable ofika figures. These sculptures, were created for use within the lilwa association—a socio-religious system much like the Lega bwami society.

Kalala Nkudi noted that ofika (hanging) figures played a key role in the final stages of initiation in the lilwa association, symbolizing lessons on morality, respect for elders, social etiquette, and warnings against amoral behaviours such as adultery, theft, and dishonesty (Nkudi, K., Le Lilwakoy des Mbole du Lomami : essai d'analyse de son symbolisme, Brussels, 1979, p.33).

Heinrich Schweizer explains that the confusion surrounding the Mbole statuary "stems from a misunderstood sentence in the second volume of Daniel Biebuyck's The Arts of Zaire where he mentions 'figurines representing ritual victims and condemned persons' which were shown to young initiates by lilwa leaders (p.242). Further on in his discussion of the lilwa, Biebuyck elaborates further, speaking synonymously of 'the famed polychrome ofika statues' and 'figurines.' (op. cit., p. 243). This ambiguous discussion of Mbole figures seems to have been misunderstood by the vast majority of later authors who, refer to Mbole figures in a generalized manner as 'ofika statues' and renderings of 'persons hanged for transgressions" (Schweizer, H., Visions of Grace: 100 Masterpieces from the Collection of Daniel and Marian Malcolm, Milan, 2014, p.242).

Schweizer explains that "For a better understanding of Mbole figures it is helpful to re-introduce two of Biebuyck's other statements pertaining to the lilwa which are usually ignored 'On the death of a kanga [diviner], the corpse is suspended from a pole in his house and the liquids are collected before he is buried in a termitaria...' and 'When a yeni [highest ranking initiate of the lilwa] is moribund, he is isolated by his aides in the forest and killed. After the corpse is exposed in a giant tree, his successor is initiated' (Biebuyck, D., op. cit., p.242). Both statements hint at different burial practices for high ranking lilwa members that involved suspension of the corpse."