Headdress

For the Lega peoples, who live in the Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the bwami association for men and women creates powerful links between otherwise loosely organized territorial groups, patriclans, and lineages. Men and women move through the bwami hierarchy and with each rank acquire knowledge, fame, and prestige. Although bwami esoteric knowledge and many of the objects revealed to the initiates remain hidden to noninitiates, there are nevertheless public markers of a person's rank in the association, most visibly different types of hats. These headdresses integrate many materials, ranging from pangolin, antelope, and crocodile skin, and various shells, to cowrie shells, glass beads, and plastic buttons. This particular hat visually proclaims that the man who wears it is a member of kindi, the highest bwami grade. Its materials have symbolic meaning. The elephant tail, which members of kindi can display, alludes to the role of this animal in Lega thought. The elephant is associated with bwami, for much like bwami it presents a powerful entity.

One of the interesting aspects of more recent bwami hats is the extensive use of buttons. In the twentieth century buttons began to replace cowrie shells because they were exotic and created a similar visual effect. In this headdress the imported buttons in carefully selected colors and the tubular red and white glass beads add vibrancy, which is in contrast to the more restrained color schemes found on older examples. The aesthetic choices of this artist extended also to the way in which he stitched the buttons onto the foundation, as he carefully and symmetrically arranged buttons with four and two holes. This hat demonstrates the Lega artists' ingenuity in appropriating new materials and integrating them fully into the artistic repertoire, enhancing rather than abandoning existing aesthetic principles.



Christraud M. Geary

From Through African Eyes: The European in African Art, 1500 to Present (Detroit, 2009)