Lega Sakimatwematwe head

Initiation into African art Lega

This wooden two-faced head statue is a sakimatwematwe literally meaning "multiple heads". In African Lega art, there are many objects including wooden, ivory or bone figurines used by initiates for educational purposes as part of the Bwami, the society to which many Lega men and women belonged. Among these many objects, statuettes always strongly stylized sometimes with arms, sometimes without. These traditional tribal art objects carry multiple meanings simultaneously, known only to the rank of the initiate who owns them.

See senior Lega officers wearing their attributes: headdresses, necklaces etc.

In the attached photo, an example of a cephalomorphic figurine of a smaller dimension since it is made of ivory. But it is the same character and therefore the same aphorism as that one.
Bibliography: Secrets d'Ivoire: the art of the Lega of Central Africa, Actes Sud