Okifa hanged figure - YELA - DR Congo

Yela/Mbole make sinister small figurines. These are called Okifa and represent a man who has been hanged by the Lilwa Sociaty for wrong-doing - usually murder or adultery.
His body gets no funeral rites and is quietly buried in the forest.
At the end of ceremonial events the figurines of executed men are displayed, lying on a litter (as this one).
This will be the final, symbolic appearence of the condemned before their tribe (lit. Desmond Morris).

Material: wood, pigment, kaolin.

Ex collection Jan Maes - NL