Tellum Ancestor Figure V.S. Bamana Boli

This week in Art of Africa we were asked to compare and contrast between two items we have learned about in the last month and half. I decided to compare and contrast between the Tellum's Ancestor Figures and the Bamana's Boli.

As I was looking at these to figures I notice that they were both made of sacrificial material. Meaning that their our other means beside just wood and clay that make up these to figures. By other means, I mean that they are made of blood, semen and among other natural fluids. They also have powerful meaning behind them such as the Boli is use for a spiritual meaning or a spiritual charge and the Ancestor Figures that have raised arms are representing prayer which is part of the spiritual realm.  These prays are associate for asking for rain or other things of that nature. The abstraction of both of these items are similar in a way even though one is more of an animal like figure and the other is human figure, but the way the body is represented in both of these is very abstract. They obviously show a more unorthodox way of representing the limbs of these figures. The arms and legs aren't as natural looking as they could be. These were some of the things I noticed that were similar to both of these items.

I also many differences in these figures too. Such as the Boli is, as I stated before an animal like figure and the Tellum Ancestor figures are human figures, but that isn't the only thing that sets them apart. The Boli figure receives libations. This means that it has organic fluids such as blood and semen thrown on it. This is what makes it spiritually charged. As for the Tellum Ancestor figure they don't receive any such libations. The Tellum Ancestor figure that enters the spiritual world to ask for things on the behalf of the owner. So these figures have powerful meaning within the spiritual world. Another important differences with these two items is the Ancestor figure is owned by people within the community and the Boli is part of the men's association called the Kono, so it's part of a ritual ceremony. Even though I stated earlier how these two items were similar in abstraction. They are also different in it to, because the Boli figure has no indication of a face but the Tellum Ancestor figure does, which helps with the identification of that item. If the Boli were to have a face it would be much easier to tell it was an animal figure and not just a sculpture of some kind.

With these many similarities and differences. We must look at these items as for the way the are and their meanings. As you can see different cultures can have similarities among one another in making their spiritual items or figures but yet have just as many differences, which is what sets them apart from one another. Without these differences we wouldn't have different cultures but without the similarities items wouldn't make sense because they would be non recognizable. So what I'm trying to say similarities and differences are always a good thing when comparing and contrasting any two items such as the Boli and the Tellum Ancestor figures like I just did in this blog.