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The Dogon couples below have all been sold. They are left here for reference
purposes,
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Photographs © Tim Hamill
DOGON COUPLES, Mali
Despite their appearance these Dogon couples were probably made to be sold.
Usually representing spirits, ancestors or the primordial couple, these figures were placed in shrines and treated with great respect. Through a wide range of style, scale, belief and function the couples depicted share a timeless, serene equality necessary to the continuity of their societies. Traditionally, most of the couples are two freestanding figures, conceived as a unit, and posed frontally, symmetrically, in formal postures and of equal size.
Sculpted as stools and headrests, the male and female figures serve as symbolic supports, or as handles when worked into the design of bowls. Couples also appear as decorative elements on African doors.
GO TO ART OF DOGON EXHIBITION PAGE
GO TO FAMILY MATTERS EXHIBITION PAGE
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