Agreed, African scultural pieces look sinister. To laymen like me, they bear little resemblance to the natural elements they are intended to portray. Most of us would concur that African wood carvings for instance are fitting only in the dwelling places of traditional medicine men or practitioners of African Traditional Religion. Maybe it is our loyalty to Christianity or Islam, but these art works tend to conjure one strong concept in our minds- voodoo. Should one bring home a festival mask, a headress or a figurine, other persons around may be hard put to conceal their dislike for the piece, which they fear might come alive in the dead of night and carry out unimaginable ills, the way dolls do in American horror movies. We only have to look beyond the over-large heads, the seemingly misshapen mouths, the unnaturally big eyes to see that African sculptures possess such sweetly intoxicating beauty. They are dedications to beauty, fertility, gracio...
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