“Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?”
- Sir David Attenborough
For its second participation of the Civilisations art fair, Duende Art Projects has selected a group of 23 antique African artworks depicting or featuring birds. As “A Flock of Birds” explores avian inspiration across the African continent, we present sculptures from Ivory Coast, Guinea, Nigeria, Ghana, the Republic of Benin, and Burkina Faso. Given their natural faculty of flight, all over Africa birds were associated with transcendence and other supernatural abilities. Already in Greek mythology, birds were considered to be messengers of the gods, having the ability to communicate between the mortal and divine realm, just as the bird is a common symbol of communication and wisdom in many West African societies. Avian sculptures could represent deities, commemorate events, elicit moral lessons, evoke sayings, or recall certain bird’s characteristics. Close observation of the animals’ peculiar behaviours made them inexhaustible sources of inspiration, while talented artists with great craftsmanship created wonderful works of art for us to enjoy.