Senufo

Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire)

Scattered across the Ivory Coast, Mali and Burkina Faso, the Senufo live principally off the fruits of agriculture and occasionally hunting. They inhabit villages governed by a council of elders, who in turn are led by a chief elected from their number. Tribal cohesion is reinforced through the rituals of the Poro society who initiate and educate the men from the age of seven onwards. Senufo theology is based on Koulotiolo, a powerful god, and Katieleo, a goddess mother, who through the rituals of the Poro society, regenerates the world.

The Senufo were amongst the first tribal artists to be admired by the Western world. Their artistic output is prolific - statues and masks characterized by realistic features or highly geometric shapes which emphasize rhythm and the opposition between void and full spaces.

~ links to SENUFO items on ETHNIX.COM ~

SENUFO Face Masks

SENUFO Ancestral Figures/Statues

SENUFO Maternity Figures/Statues

SENUFO Animal Figures/Statues

SENUFO Stools

SENUFO Pulleys

SENUFO Bronze/Lost Wax