Metal Objects
Metal objects have many functions and meanings in Africa where forging has been regarded as an almost magical, transformative process that is likened to the creation of life itself. Ceremonial pieces, often based on utilitarian forms such as the agricultural hoe, an iwenga from the Nkutshu people of southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, were used as special-purpose currency. Not everyday money, this currency was exchanged in the course of a significant social transaction such as marriage. Utilitarian, symbolic, and decorative; cultural significance is hammered into the products of the forge with every blow.
In Senegal, metal objects are recycled as utilitarian African folk art.
Read more about this topic: African Folk Art
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“He who observes etiquette but objects to lying is like someone who dresses fashionably but wears no vest.”
—Walter Benjamin (1892–1940)