Painted Bark Cloth
Mbuti (Sua) people, Ituri Forest, D.R. Congo
35.5″ (90.1 cm) high by 23″ (58.4 cm) wide
Collected in the 1980s by a noted ethnologist working on an Ituri forestry project, this bark cloth is from the Sua subgroup of the Mbuti people in the Ituri forest of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. These cloths were made from the inner bark of trees, pounded and prepared by men, then painted by women with twigs, fingers or twine. They were folded in half over a sash or belt and worn as ritual dress for celebrations and rites of passage.
In Mbuti Design, a photograph of this Sua piece is used to illustrate an essay on the probable influence seen in the painted designs of the vocal traditions of yeyi (yodelling) and the way in which the women build their dome-shaped living structures. The painting in this example does seem to depict vibrating sound and linear structure in a very coherent yet animated composition.
Published in Mbuti Design: Paintings by Pygmy Women of the Ituri Forest by Georges Meurant and Robert Farris Thompson, p.193.
$3000
