This large figure, with a beautifully eroded surface, is a memorialisation in wood of a male Konso ancestor. Ancestral figures such as this (named waaka or waaga) memorialise xhe-tallitta (heroes) of the highest rank of the Gada grade, certain religious dignitaries and warrior-hunters.
As seen in this example, which features the carved representation of a coiffure, Konso ancestral figures such as this portray the prominent characteristics of the ancestor.
Height: 183cm
Width: 24cm
NVM.DFOO
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