ABSTRACT
In attempting to elucidate the position and projects of a few key blackwood sculptors this chapter addresses the essential issue of whether it is appropriate to seek to define a notion of the artist, where Makonde blackwood carvers are concerned. In other words, will such a notion, once disclosed, help us to evaluate Makonde blackwood sculpture as a cultural achievement in its own right, or will it merely constitute another example of a taxonomic conjuring act that celebrates the triumph of a domineering Western world-view and its universalising ambitions? 1 Although it is now a well-rehearsed ethnographic fact, supported by linguistic “evidence”, that “traditional” African societies did not recognise a separate role for the makers of artefacts in any way comparable with that of the Western artist, the case of Makonde blackwood sculpture, given its development in association with European patronage, would appear to suggest something different. The danger here is that any attempt to reconcile what Makonde sculptors do with an essentialising notion of “art” or the “artist”, whether or not such notions are espoused by the sculptors themselves, might lead us to overlook some of the complex personal, cultural and historical meanings that attach to the expression and development of individual creative abilities in the Makonde context. This has certainly been the problem with most previous writers, except that the essentialising notions that have obsessed them have included a more pervasive, if at times, implicit one of “authenticity”. Coupled with this, and a lack of adequate research, most previous writers have been limited by an overwhelming bias towards the objects in themselves and a need to classify them (e.g. Grohs 1971; M. Dias 1973; Jasienski 1973; Hayes 1977; Wembah-Rashid 1987; Coote 1989). Although there is general agreement in the literature on the existence of three basic sculptural types, namely, binadamu (naturalistic human figures and themes), ujamaa (composite works composed of a multitude of interlocking or interlinked human figures), and shetani (’spirit’ figures and themes), different writers tend to subdivide these basic categories in different ways. Some writers recognise additional categories such as the mawingu type and other miscellaneous types such as relief boards (e.g. Wembah-Rashid 1987). Few writers other than Korn (1974) and Hayes (1977) profile the work of individual sculptors and most exclude from their classifications the numerous categories of so-called curio items and utilitarian crafts produced by Makonde carvers. 2
