Group Communications African Art: Woyo

Group Communications African Art: Woyo people Congo (Zaire) pot lid What we think of as 'art' in a Western context is often taken to mean the type of art that is apprehended in a museum. Art viewed as such is not functional; rather it is decorative or expressive, like a sculpture or a painting. Art viewed from a distance in a museum is also often seen the expression of an individual artist who is seeking to reveal some unique inner truth.

Thus runs contrary to how art functions in traditional West African society. Although the Western observer sees this artifact, a Woyo pot lid, in a museum, it must not be forgotten that in its original context, it was a part of the household, much like a pot lid in our own kitchen. Besides conveying meaning, it also had a practical purpose within the home to keep food warm.

Rather than being purely individualistic in its expressive intent and design, its shape and form was fairly standardized, yet unlike a commercially purchased Western pot lid, it was created by the hands of the individuals who used the pot lid. Also, the use of the pot lid has a symbolic and communicative dimension that transcended its pure functionality and use.

It is not purely functional, like a piece of kitchenware bought at a store, nor is it purely expressive, like an art object in a museum -- thus it straddles what are two separate purposes in Western culture. The communicative aspect of the pot is not self-expression, but within a communal context, it can express a wife's feelings. Because this symbolic language is generally agreed upon within the tribe, it ends to reinforce the conventional modes of expression involving a particular a social institution, namely that of marriage.

The language of the use of the pot lid thus agreed upon within the Woyo culture, much as certain symbolic gestures and words take place during the ritual of marriage itself. The pot lids are carved with community sayings and images that express generally accepted truths about the relationship between a husband and his wife.

Art is used to reinforce community norms, although it is also used as a method of expression between two married people -- for example, if a husband displeases a wife, she will fix him dinner with a pot lid that expresses this idea. She does not need to speak, the art will do it for her, but unlike the expressive purpose of museum artwork, the point of this expression is to reinforce a relationship rather than speak to strangers.

There is a public, shaming potential to the pot lid's use such as using the lid when her husband is having company. Context can add to the meaning of the lid, but still, there is some control over who hears the message, unlike the message conveyed by art to a person strolling through a museum, whose presence does not usually add or subtract from the meaning of the work of art.

Art is not done by professionals in this West African tribal context, rather everyone has the potential to make art, or to read art, in fact it is necessary in this case, that the husband be fluent in the language of the pot lids and other symbolic exchanges pertaining to marriage. The images of the pot lid also require the husband and the wife.