Additional information
| Primary Materials | |
|---|---|
| Materials | Beads, Cloth, Hair, Vegetal Fiber, Wood |
| Regions | |
| Ethnic Groups |
Mwila Doll
Unlike many child images in African art Mwila dolls are exactly that: child’s play things. (The mwana hiti of the Kwere and Zaramo of Tanzania for example are carried by women of child bearing age as talismans to promote fertility.) The Mwila are a pastoral people belonging to the larger Nyaneka-Khumbi ethnic group on the Haumpata Plateau of southwestern Angola. They are famous for the elaborate hairdoos of their women which feature massive dreadlocks anointed with earth and animal fat adorned with beads. Mwila dolls celebrate the distinctive Mwila coiffure, neck ring and dress. The doll is hormed by a section of lightweight woody plant matter over which Indigenous string, sometimes incorporating recycled materials, forms a skin. Recycled cloth, yarn and beads complete the ensemble. This doll was collected immediately after the end of the Angolan civil war when the region, long off limits due to mine fields and warring armies, was opened up to outsiders. Such dolls are now increasingly rare.
10″
