Bakongo statuette from Congo DRC. Piece over 40 years old.

Among the Kongo, the minkisi (sing. nkisi) probably constitute the most extensive class of minds. Until today, it has given rise to the production of numerous sculptures which are true “force objects” intended to act on the world and on all the beings who populate it. The anthropomorphic minkisi constitute only a fraction, undoubtedly the best known because they have always attracted the interest of ethnographers and collectors. If they are sculpted by artists, they will only be sacred, shaped, “armed” with magical substances and manipulated by specialists in the ritual called nganga. These are socially recognized in Kongo culture as useful. They respond to various requests from individuals who feel afflicted or threatened by evil spirits. For example, a nganga will use his minkisi to restore a hunter's success in hunting, to find and neutralize a sorcerer who threatens the life of his client or to protect a village from thefts and attacks. Some are used to resolve conflicts between people, between families or between clans. Among all types of minkisi, nkondi minkisi are recognized as the most aggressive force objects, which can be used for violent attacks likely to result in death. Their distinctive sign is an arm brandishing a knife or a spear. The numerous nails which cover the surface of these objects were not related to the harm that was intended to be done to their victims, but rather to the pain that was intended to inflict on the spirit of the nkisi so that it would become angry and begin to pursue and persecute the designated victim! During the ritual of invoking the spirit, the nganga could also throw brandy or gunpowder in the eyes of the figure to further irritate it and also insult it. The most important magical substances, whose symbolic aspects refer to the qualities of the spirit, are encapsulated behind a mirror on the abdomen. Mirrors, like white clay or the opening of certain marine shells, refer to the world of ancestors, a virtual world under the surface of the water, the opposite of the world of the living.