Clémentine M. Faïk-Nzuji, born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, professor at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium and one of the world's leading experts in Bantu linguistics, semantics of oral literatures, symbology, tattoos and scarifications in African societies, presents a 72-page study of the sacred origin of African art objects.

The author answers the question: how were these objects made for their natural environment? why were they made? who gave them meaning and which one is it?
Together with the volume, there are 30 teaching cards which present a theme, an object or a category of objects, and the context and function for which they were made.

From the Introduction to the book: "In the catalogs of African art museums, ethnographic objects are presented mainly for their formal and aesthetic appearance, to the detriment of their function in the environment which produced them. This is undoubtedly due to the aura of mystery in which their first users wore them, but also to the attitude of European collectors who, fascinated by their form, could not see behind the masks and statuettes that they were collecting.

Without diminishing its aesthetic values, this book aims to place these artistic creations in the natural context in which they were produced, which was mainly a religious and social context. The latter in fact reveals the psychological motivations and the peculiar way of understanding the world that led Africans to produce these objects, giving them meaning and function of mediation in ritual celebrations.

The text is richly illustrated with over one hundred objects coming from the Traditional African art collection of the Museum of Chinese Art and Ethnography of the Xaverian Missionaries of Parma; with photographs showing objects in their natural environment of use; with poetic texts that confirm their context of origin; with numerous graphic symbols, which are found reproduced on the objects and the human body, as evidence of the sacred origin of these objects of African art.

The presentation is by Jean-Leonard Touadi, native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with a degree in Philosophy and master in Journalism and Mass Communications, Councilor in Youth and University policies for the City of Rome.

Edition CSAM, Brescia, 2005
Pages 72, with photos of ethnographic objects in their original environment. Price: € 15.