“Out of the Shadows” exhibition at the Musée du Quai Branly

Congo sculpture is given pride of place in Paris! The Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac offers tribal art enthusiasts a never-before-seen exhibition running from December 14, 2021 to April 10, 2022: “Out of the Shadows – Sculptures from Southwest Congo” focusing on the traditional Bandundu arts. The exhibition is curated by Julien Volper – curator at the Tervuren AfricaMuseum in Belgium.

Covering almost half of the surface of France, this Congo region is as varied as culturally rich, including dozens of peoples with different customs. A richness especially found “in the visual arts, as illustrated by the extraordinary diversity of statuary art, masks and other everyday objects”.

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This exhibition also aims at giving a “broader picture of traditional arts in Bandundu” through emblematic masks related to the initiatory rite of Mukunda, as well as shining a light on “a more understated production, that of wooden statutory art, and provides some essential elements for their analysis”.

In all, over 150 works created by the Yaka, Pende, Tshokwe and Suku, as well as minor groups such as the Yanzi, Buma, Lyembe, Sakata or Mbala are displayed to visitors showing “their typical and iconographic features, and the details of their use”.
This is the occasion to discover more about this region and its culture. Shall we go, friends?