Art and Religion in Africa: Some Observations and Reflections

Abstract

Preamble Africa's artistic and religious traditions offer primary evidence of the expressive and intellectual vitality of a vast and fascinating continent (cf. McNaughton 1988:50). Art objects, whether sculpted figures, textiles, paintings or pots, are generally enjoyed, critiqued and used by communities or groups, rather than being the prerogative of individuals alone. Hence they provide important points of entry into people's conceptual worlds. African art is held to be successful at evoking and abstracting the powers which are central to human life because artists are not bound to produce forms that resemble or portray individual humans. Yet, despite this and the obvious ritual significance of many artistic objects, the interactive relationship between art and religion in the African context remains remarkably understudied and misunderstood. Few monographic studies exist which explore this relationship in any systematic or comparative way. There exist a number of localized case studies of the range of ritual art forms in a particular culture, which are undeniably valuable in that they permit the reader to compare the range of artistic techniques and forms employed by a particular people to express, manifest and control the spiritual forces believed to be active in their environment.2 Promising titles of museum exhibitions and catalogues often prove disappointing as they seem more concerned to promote the 'exoticism' and 'otherness' of African art by emphasizing its religious aspects, or they seem satisfied with undeveloped observations regarding its 'symbolic,' 'ancestral' and/or 'ritual' function, rather than to explore the fascinating conceptual fields of art and religion in the African context.