Art therapy utilizes various creative outlets to alleviate mental stress and enhance well-being. The use of art for mental wellness originates in ancient Africa, where diverse cultures and communities appointed specific individuals to tend to their overall well-being. These healers/diviners served as intermediaries between the spirit and human realms, influencing various occurrences in the human world. They used artifacts, figurines, and inscriptions to offer diagnostic and healing solutions to the community.
Let’s delve into how traditional art therapy employs assessment, diagnosis, and treatment for individuals.
Assessments and examinations of individuals using traditional figures
Traditional African artists shared a unique bond with the spiritual realm, channeling it into their creation. As such, different sculptures, iron figures, boards, and everyday objects were adorned with inscriptions, images, and lines, forming a conduit to the spirit world. These artistic pieces served as intermediaries for spiritual diviners and healers, facilitating communication with the spirits and bestowing health and well-being.
Various instruments embodied this connection, such as West Africa’s Komtin figures, the ancient East African traditional Iron staffs, Congo’s Nkisi Nkonda Statues, and Ethiopia’s Gebre paintings. These items were not only seen as linked to the divine world but also as vessels containing potent spirits capable of bringing healing to those in need. Traditional healers and diviners wield these objects, allowing them to get insight into the matter at hand.
Diagnosis
In traditional Africa, the diagnosis of illness varied across regions. In Central Africa, for instance, the Pende society utilized tools like the galukoji for diagnosis. The orientation of the galukoji’s head held significance, pointing upwards to identify the cause of ailments and the responsible individual. This diviner was believed to possess special knowledge, enabling them to uncover the culprit or causative agent behind the illnesses.
39.4 x 96.5cm. Image courtesy of The Met Museum.
Similarly, within the Yoruba Ifa community, Babalawos employed diverse objects and materials for diagnosis. Divination cups, agere Ifá, and open Ifá trays played roles in determining and concluding the nature of ailments affecting different individuals.
Treatment and healing
Materials play a crucial role in the healing process, a significance underscored by historical artifacts. An example is an eighteenth-century gold necklace from Somalia featuring healing verses from the Qur’an and worn against the skin. In West African Islamic communities, akin connections between body and scripture are witnessed in inscribed clothing.
Somali artist, Mogadishu, Somalia1900/2000. Image courtesy of The Smithsonian Institute of Arts,
Across Central Africa, sculptures known as nkisi vividly exemplify the materials-healing nexus. These “power objects” encapsulated medicinal elements and graveyard earth embodying their potency. Nkisi, intricate creations steeped in specialized knowledge, effectively facilitated spiritual communication. Nails and metal inserted into nkisi nkondi actualized this communion.
Traditional African healers and artists focused on the spiritual connection, nature, and balance. One wrongdoing could offset one’s mental health. The artists/healers communicated with the spirit world on the patients’ behalf using figures, symbols, and inscriptions. Interpreting these symbols would heal the individual, restoring balance and order in one’s life. There was no healing without these materials, artworks, and emblems.
