IGALA OR IGBO, NIGERIA

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Carved out of wood and anywhere from a few inches to about two feet tall, an ikenga figure symbolizes its owner’s right hand: the hand of action and accomplishment, of confronting and overcoming life’s challenges. It is, in essence, a sacred symbol of personhood. An Igbo man may ritually be offered a male ikenga when he comes of age, and it becomes not only his possession to be proudly preserved and honored in perpetuity, but also an integral part of his very identity. The figure embodies his chi (personal god), his ndichie (ancestors), and ike (power). When its owner dies, the ikenga often dies along with him, being split apart and discarded. The profound personal importance and unimpeachable sanctity of the ikenga within Igbo belief is well illustrated in Chinua Achebe’s novel Arrow of God, in which one character, Akukalia, breaks the ikenga of a man named Ebo, and Ebo shoots Akukalia to death without any consequences from the village elders or the community.

Male ikenga usually depict one or more standing, horned figures, often holding a sword or other blade in their right hand. This ikenga follows a classic model with fully formed features, large vertical horns, and an upraised blade along with additional implements. The figure stands upon a shallow base or dais which bears relief designs. Massed proportions in the chest, shoulders, head and crowning horns lend the figure a palpable sense of strength and toughness, emphasized by a heavily textured patina.