ABSTRACT
In attempting to explain the aesthetic objectives they hope to achieve in their sculpture both Chanuo and Dastan indicated that a work should have “action” (vitendo). Later on in this chapter I explain how these sculptors give their works a sense of action but, by itself, this assertion is interesting because it would seem to correspond explicitly with Gell's theory that “art” has to do with social agency. In his book Art and Agency Gell (1998) develops a theoretical perspective in which he opposes the accepted wisdom that defines art as a system of symbolic communication and proposes instead that “art” is “a system of action, intended to change the world”. 1 Of course, Gell does not suggest that “artworks” act in and of themselves but only in so far as they are enmeshed alongside people, within fields of understanding and expectation. The paradox presented by Makonde blackwood sculpture is that it appears to operate between different African and “Western” fields of knowledge, understanding and expectation.
