Sokoto Culture. Sokoto Culture

Sokoto Culture. Nigeria, 2nd–8th centuries.
Terracotta head.
Measurements: 32 cm tall.
A terracotta head created by modeling, depicting the head of a warrior, as indicated by the large headdress covering it, which nearly hides the eyes. Despite the simplified treatment of the face, the wrinkles around the eyes—a symbol of age, maturity, and wisdom—have been emphasized, as has the short, straight beard.
If there is a common thread that allows us to explore Africa through its artistic creations, that thread is a concept as intangible and unreal as magic—conceived as the path to controlling supernatural forces and understanding Nature. As part of this attempt to understand the natural world and control the supernatural, instruments suitable for managing certain energies have emerged in Africa—as in virtually all preindustrial societies—sometimes in the form of a mask, sometimes in the form of a sculpture, a fetish, or a cluster of elements, and sometimes simply a stone placed horizontally or a line drawn on the ground. In these magical and religious objects of traditional Africa, nothing is left to chance, and everything, even the smallest detail, conforms to a coded, initiatory language, the meaning of which is not accessible to all members of the cultural group for which they were conceived but, often, only to the most experienced initiates—the elders who have passed through the various stages of training and initiation.