Kpodohonme - Fon / Benin

Wood, rope, duck skull, jawbone, padlock, sacrificial patina

Base

Provenance
Anne & Jacques KERCHACHE, Paris

Exhibition
VAUDOU/VODOUN, Fondation Cartier Pour l'art contemporain, 2011, Paris (see photo of the exhibition, first object on the left)

Literature
Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain
BOTCHIO, Fon sculptures, Benin, Espace Paul REBEYROLLE, Eymoutiers, Haute-Vienne
Fetishes from the former slave coast, D.BOUDRE

Jacques KERCHACHE writes about these objects: The statuettes whose stake-leg is planted in the ground are very characteristic of objects with multiple and repeated uses. The pegs linked to each other are stuck in the body of the individual, at the level of the ears, the chest and finally in the pelvis. Coated with sacrificial blood, they are used to cause various kinds of ailments in the adversary: ​​inability to speak, suffocation, stomach aches, or sterility. The jaw tied to the body indicates the desire to silence an inconvenient witness. Once the pegs are removed, the enemy regains speech or no longer suffers. The pegs were later replaced by padlocks. Of course, this type of manipulation required that it be known to the adversary, otherwise it remained ineffective.
Gabin DJIMASSE also writes about an object similar in its composition: This work is a double-sided wooden sculpture (male and female) loaded with the following elements: three pegs, an animal jaw with teeth (human), a rope, an animal skull, a padlock closed without a key, poultry feathers, sacrificial patina. This ensemble represents a form of KPODOHONME, used to prevent reactions or actions that are considered by the user to be premature or unwelcome. The two upper pegs fixed in each of the ears of the sculpted faces have the function of maintaining in absolute silence the individual or individuals against whom the wish is directed. As for the lower peg fixed at the level of the sex, it serves to prevent the use of this part of the body by the individual against whom this object was designed.
This is a powerful object intended to constrain and to be used against a defined target.
Black and white photo at the Sotheby's sale of May 16, 1985