Head for a Body Puppet

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Artist Yankoro Konate (?)

Culture Bamana

Title Head for a Body Puppet

Date 1930–1935

Medium Wood, brass, cloth, and and metal

Dimensions Object: 56 7/8 × 19 15/16 × 9 5/8 in. (144.5 × 50.6 × 24.4 cm)
Overall (includes mount): 60 × 19 15/16 × 9 5/8 in. (152.4 × 50.6 × 24.4 cm)

Credit Line Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University

Accession Number 77.87

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About this Work

Associated with puppet performances in central Mali that are put on by youth associations as both entertainment and commentaries on social and political life, this head of a puppet represents a female character known as Yan Ka Di, “this place is good,” identified by the janus-faced head out of which additional female heads appear. A cloth costume and wooden hands, manipulated by the puppeteer, would have completed the puppet. During the colonial period, Yan Ka Di frequently appeared in performances, and, though the character is not frequently performed today, it is made for sale to tourists, among whom it is still popular.

Provenance
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Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"Head for a Body Puppet | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=77.87