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These figures disturb me. Scary. Maybe it’s the teeth. Maybe it’s the eyes. Maybe it’s the rope around the neck. Maybe it’s just me… But at the same time I am drawn to them. The male and female figures are about 50cm tall, are covered in what looks like mud, are roughly carved and have rusty nails in the base to steady them. I believe they are from Cameroon in West Africa but I don’t know what they were made for or what they signify.
Do you recognise them. Do you know anything about them? What reaction do you have to these figures?
Finding Something from Nothing 
hello, my nickname is African Queen, For a long time my endless fascination for Africa still hold on, some days ago I was visiting your website, as I know Cameroon very well, this figures usually are pottery burned in black earth handmade art pieces. and yes they are scary, as i know they are scary used for protection from eval.spiritual, mystic, magic as masks. black color, like stone, or made of wood. In the North region
of Kamerun produced by women. As I was visiting these places and watching
were these figures were produced. For me they are admirable. Sometimes they are
decorated with pearls,sometimes with rusty nails too. Gris-Gris, magic.
very Interesting your website, need some time to explore, as your seem to be interested in art.
regards
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Thank you for your comments African Queen. Do you have any photographs of Cameroon/Kamerun or have you ever blogged about the area?
I actually found these in a town in Spain. The owner did not speak any English and I did not speak any Spanish. But somehow we managed to make ourselves understood. The story he told me was about a family from Cameroon who arrived eventually in Spain with a van full of carvings. They wanted to sell them to have enough money to continue their journey into Europe so I think he bought all of them. I would have loved to have bought some of the other pieces he had but their was no room in my car. He had carved door posts, lots of figures and two amazing life size figures with a space in their stomach to put things in to perform magic and healing. These large figures were also covered in nails and triangular pieces of metal hammered into them. Maybe one day I will go back and see if any are left.
My web site was intended to show some of the art I make for myself. But I also sometimes write about other things that interest me. I have some experience and memories of Africa – take a look at an old post of mine called African Dreams https://passajer.wordpress.com/2015/03/18/african-dreams/ So many years ago but sometimes still in my dreams.
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thank you for your kind answer, well some parts of Cameroon older post you will find some of them, my other blog: https://textimpressionen.blogspot.com/ Afrika immer wieder Afrika ( africa always Africa again) in English language you can find other posts of Cameroon and in one of my books : Spirit of Africa ( amazon) a lot more with some Fotos of Cameroon , I visited several times, also some private contacts I had in this time, if you are interested, and I have several art magic pieces of Cameroon. Some of them in posts on this WordPress site the other one is on
https://textimpressionen.blogspot.com/
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